Amanda Rogers
“The Places You Dwell”
(Immigrant Sun Records)
If I could write a single word review I would use it here. Beautiful. Every sense of that word is in Amanda Rogers. The brilliance of a great singer/song writer, the harmonies coming from her piano, the over all mood of her CD. Rogers is not treading new ground, but she is singing and playing better than anyone has in quite awhile. Tori Amos is the easiest comparison, but Rogers does not have the prog influence that Amos uses in her songs.
“The Places You Dwell” is heartbreaking from the stripped first song to the waltz of the last. I may be biased as I grew up playing classical piano, but Rogers’ voice coupled with the piano sends chills through me like ghosts running dead fingers up my back. The lyrics also hold up under the melodic songs. Rogers empties her heart about relationships and how they can break the human spirit. On “This Beauty” Rogers hauntingly sings “Burn the pages of the magazine. I hate the way they look at me. With every smile and every laugh, there’s something I will always lack.” Easily the best CD I have heard in quite awhile completely by a single person. Beautiful.
