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Monday, October 27, 2008

Review: Sue Brescia - Hope Rising


Sue Brescia - Hope Rising
2007, Gentle Spirit Records

Sue Brescia's story reads like a Lifetime Movie Network feature. The Middletown, Rhoda Island singer/songwriter was bitten by the music and acting bugs early on, singing in a top-40 band. Summer stock theater engagements brought her an Actor's Equity card and she began pursuing a Broadway role. A rare form of cancer sidelined her career for a time, but the creative juices did not stop flowing. Brescia turned to songwriting both as an outlet for her creative gift but also as a therapeutic outlet in her recovery. Today she is a successful recording artist with a talent for writing uplifting songs, as well as a composer for the silver screen. Brescia's second CD, Hope Rising is full of uplifting and beautiful songs that will touch your heart and your spirit.

Sue Brescia has been through a great deal and has used her experiences as inspiration to write. She has a distinctive talent and sweetness that comes across in her recordings, sometimes almost to a fault. I tend to think that Hope Rising is a niche recording. Some fans will actually be turned off by such a passively forceful sunny perspective; either by confusion or by an inability to understand the novelty that loss or near-loss can paint upon the mundane. As a songwriter Brescia is talented. Her subject matter varies from amazing lyrical perspective to nearly adolescent perseveration.

A Lifetime Of Weekends
is a joyous song full of the sort of giddy energy that comes with new love or love re-discovered. Angels In Our Midst is a thing of beauty. It rises above the obvious clichés associated with angels and touches the heart and soul of the listener. Passage Of Time is a tuneful exploration of the progression of life. It reflects the acquired understanding that comes to us all in time, and mixes a hopeful yearning for each coming stage with a quiet, near-forgotten regret over not learning sooner. These are the true highlights of Hope Rising. Most of the rest of the disc is decent but not earth shattering. A couple of songs here cross the line of too much, but on the whole, Hope Rising is a worthy effort.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Sue Brescia at http://www.suebrescia.com/, where you can purchase a copy of Hope Rising.

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