Lisa Mitchell – Welcome To The Afternoon

Now I realise that for Music Feeds to come out and give a glowing review of an artist who came to fame through Australian Idol and is signed to Warner Music Australia might seem a bit ‘sell-out’ of us. Well, let me challenge you to listen to this album and not be charmed by her delicate and honest voice.

Considering Lisa is only 18, something really bad must have happened to her to give her such a speakeasy voice. Imagine a mix between Joanna Newsom and Tom Waits, if it was refracted through the shy vocal chords of a young girl.

Her voice is hardly what you’d describe as a powerhouse, but it has a certain personal quality to it that is so hard to find in music these days. The instrumentation on the album is absolutely adorable, with pop piano and glockenspiel sprinkled generously among the songs, with occasional back-up vocals expanding the sound from it’s candlelit sitting room, into a more spacious hall of sound. Lisa even plays guitar on the record, channelling Cat Power as she strums.

I don’t know why she went on Idol as her music and voice hardly seem to be the bread and butter of that whore-fest, but regardless, this album is sublime.

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