"Anything & Everything"
Kit Dylan Arrieta
(Dylan Records)
Male or female, straight or gay, whatever race or ethnicity you identify with, the tumultuous experiences of love and heartbreak seem to be universal. Singer-songwriter Kit Dylan Arrieta addresses heartbreak in impressive style here. So impressive, in fact, that she deserves a national audience and a place on the national pop charts.
She sets the personal context with the title song, in which the woman who was "everything I ever wanted … everything I loved" left her alone, broken-hearted and yearning for the ability to feel love again: "I’m still holding on/Although she’s gone." From that point on the sentiments are expressed in gender-neutral terms and with a winning command of language. In "Conditional" Arrieta sings, "I was convenient, contingent … You were calculating, you cheated, your love was conditional." All in all, that’s an excellent indictment of an unfaithful lover of any sexual orientation.
Arrieta delivers her observations, insights and laments with support from lead guitarist Ken Fordyce, a violinist and a solid two-man rhythm section. Her voice takes on different shadings and textures as perspectives change; she sounds vulnerable in some songs, more assertive in others. Fordyce and the rhythm section collaborate in building "Conditional" into a rock anthem and a natural show-closer should her career develop as it should.
Almost everyone survives their first heartbreak and goes on to survive several more — as Dion sang in 1962: "She broke my heart/I really showed it/Look at me now/You’d never know it!" There’s a sense of that trajectory here. Arrieta closes with a song phrased in the terms of someone who has clearly had enough: "Your character’s too much/Your heart is in your crotch/I need a new watch." Sounds like someone has been dismissed.
Looking at these songs from another perspective, individuals almost always survive a broken heart, but songs about heartbreak never lack an audience. Arrieta’s songs will comfort the broken-hearted for years to come with the knowledge that someone understands what they’re going through.
www.dylanrecords.com
"Anything & Everything"
"Eddie"
Otis Schaper
(Throbbing Vinyl)
It’s been 33 years since Eddie Aikau died while trying to save the crew of the Hokule‘a. In the intervening years he has become an icon. The simple phrase "Eddie would go" has inspired several generations of Hawaii residents to reach higher, to strive for excellence and to serve others.
North Shore resident Otis Schaper pays homage to Aikau with this CD single. It is a fine tribute.
Schaper, the songwriter and lead vocalist, tells the story for a new generation: how Aikau excelled at surfing waves others considered too big and dangerous to ride. How he would always "go" when someone needed help in the water. And how when the Hokule‘a capsized south of Molokai, "He went for help/And sealed his fate."
Credit Ernie Cruz Jr. with the catchy upbeat arrangement; he also plays guitar and bass and provides backing vocals. Percussionist Jon Porlas and Dr. Trey (ukulele, producer, mix and mastering) complete the lineup. It’s easy to picture the four of them playing it as they sit near a fire on a North Shore beach.
www.reverbnation.com/#!/otisschaper
"Eddie"
