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- Date Released: September 18, 2007
- Genre: Rock/Pop
- Style: Vocal Pop
- Label: Ingrid Michaelson / CD Baby
As heard in Grey's Anatomy, Michaelson's music is strange medicine.
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We Say...
It’s easy to see why the music programmers at Grey’s Anatomy have featured Ingrid Michaelson four times on the hit series. The Staten Island, New York native, who was discovered on MySpace by a music-licensing agent, writes soaring pop tunes often based on her romances and the self-reflection they inspire; she chooses her words with playful wit and a flair for the visual and sings them in a clear, bright voice that makes her seem utterly sure of herself — no matter how mixed her emotions. For the unlucky-in-love doctors of County General Hospital, Michaelson is just the tonic — even if, at times, she is strange medicine.
The world has no shortage of competent singer-songwriters, but Michaelson’s songs have a rare double-edge. At one point on Girls & Boys, her excellent self-released debut album, she’s so appreciative of her boyfriend that she promises she’d buy him Rogaine if he needed it (“The Way I Am,” which was featured in an Old Navy commercial in 2007). It’s a funny line, but it’s also a little like hugging someone and then punching them in the gut. In the piquant “Overboard,” she sees love in a man’s eyes and wonders if she should throw herself overboard so he can catch her — a sentiment that suggests she’s still wondering how to be both self-sufficient and vulnerable. In “The Hat,” Michaelson recalls the cap she knitted for a boyfriend who kindly wore it even though it was too small for him. He was her first love, and she feels she should have told him. She also feels like nothing would suit these sentiments more than handclaps, strummy guitars and cascading vocals. In Michaelson’s world, as in the world at large, nothing is just one thing — so why not allow the ecstatic and the rueful to coexist for a few finger-snapping minutes? -
They Say...
Before her endearing single "The Way I Am" became the soundtrack for Old Navy commercials, Ingrid Michaelson was another anonymous, witty musician singing tales of love and loss to an audience that didn't yet exist. She funneled that uncalculated energy into Girls and Boys, her debut offering of clever, twisting piano pop. Released independently on the singer's own label, Girls and Boys is a rare treat -- an album created without the constraints of a label or the demands of modern radio, yet wholly able to woo both. Michaelson clearly favors well-crafted pop melodies, but she ornaments these hooks with fractured instrumentation, shifting between time signatures during the chorus of "Masochist" and allowing guitars to drop out mid-song in "Die Alone." When she saunters into full-fledged coffeehouse mode with "The Way I Am," she subverts the song's Norah Jones-styled progression by adding handclaps, echoing harmonies, and quirky lyrics. "I'd buy you Rogaine when you start losing all your hair," Michaelson croons with a hint of vibrato, making the sentiment sweet instead of condemning. Brainy turns of phrase pepper the rest of the album ("Glass" describes a make-out session in sexy detail, with Michaelson recalling how she "rolled around on kitchen floors [and] tied my tongue in pretty bows with yours"), and Girls and Boys ultimately remains true to its title, examining the relationships between both titular characters without delving into too many grown-up issues. Perhaps Michaelson will compose a thematic sequel entitled Women and Men in the future, but these well-voiced love songs leave little room for complaint.
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| 01. |  |
Die Alone |
4:21 |
|
| 02. | |
Masochist |
4:11 |
|
| 03. | |
Breakable |
3:09 |
|
| 04. | |
The Hat |
3:45 |
|
| 05. | |
The Way I Am |
2:15 |
|
| 06. | |
Overboard |
4:06 |
|
| 07. | |
Glass |
3:04 |
|
| 08. | |
Starting Now |
4:52 |
|
| 09. | |
Corner of Your Heart |
3:07 |
|
| 10. | |
December Baby |
5:53 |
|
| 11. | |
Highway |
3:50 |
|
| 12. | |
Far Away |
3:03 |
|
12 Total Tracks, 45:36 Total Length
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Credits
- Roman Zeitlin - Guitar // Roman Zeitlin - Lead // Mark Turrigiano - Guitar // Mark Turrigiano - Percussion // Mark Turrigiano - Keyboards // Mark Turrigiano - Programming // Mark Turrigiano - Producer // Mark Turrigiano - Engineer // Mark Turrigiano - Mixing // Mark Turrigiano - Guest Appearance // Ingrid Michaelson - Guitar // Ingrid Michaelson - Piano // Ingrid Michaelson - Vocals // Ingrid Michaelson - Producer // Drew Fuccillo - Organ // Drew Fuccillo - Piano // Drew Fuccillo - Guest Appearance // Lana Hagai - Organ // Lana Hagai - Guitar // Lana Hagai - Vocals // Elliot Jacobson - Drums // Chris Kuffner - Bass // Chris Kuffner - Guitar // Chris Kuffner - Vocals // Chris Kuffner - Producer
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