Beautiful voice but unenthralling album
Kelli Ali was the lead singer of Sneaker Pimps until 1996, since that time she has collaborated with a variety of other performers including Marilyn Manson, Brian Ferry and Linkin Park. ‘Rocking Horse’ is her 3rd solo album completed after travels around Mexico and California. It’s a varied album filled with touching, sentimental tunes that make the most of Kelli’s striking and beautiful voice.
There’s a fair mixture of lilting folk tunes featuring flutes and rippling backing that draws the listener into the sweet, personal melodies. The gorgeous glossy, ‘One Day At A Time’ is a highlight with soft, whispering vocals that entrance, while many tunes of a similar ilk seem to be slightly soporific, this number keeps a slight edge, as does the elegant and eloquent, ‘The Savages’.
‘Rocking Horse’ is a stark change, with a steadily growing sense of impending doom and angry electric violin that permeates the perfect rocking rhythm, while Kelli’s heavy breaths build to an implosive peak. This is a high point of the album so it’s a slight shame that it’s already been reached at track 6. ‘The Kiss’ is notable for its ethereal vocals with haunting, “Oohs” pirouetting above the instrumentals, while ‘Water Under The Bridge’ sounds as tender and dreamy as Kate Bush with quivering vocals. Kelli Ali has a beautiful voice which really ought to be heard.
The majority of the album is soothing, gentle and thoroughly pleasant to listen to, with whimsical vocal melodies floating over soft strings, but there are very few striking elements to it. There’s the occasional real gem, or a tune that’s simply a little unsettling, as with, ‘Flowers’, but there’s very little to grab you by the ear and really excite you here. It’s all very pretty but 13 tracks is quite a lot and one has the feeling that cutting 4 or 5 would have made this a much more accessible album on the whole, while the few really stunning tunes may be missed as the listener has gone to make a cup of tea or let the cat in, unenthused by a run of mediocre folk-style ballads.