No one can do a big ballad quite like Paula Kelley.

The Boston-formed, but now Californian-based singer-songwriter has been through many guises since first emerging on the music scene with shoegazing pioneers, the Drop Nineteens, in the early 90’s. In the latter stages of her last band, Boy Wonder, she found within herself a forte for making sweeping Brian Wilson-esque balladic pop, which she then took into the solo career that she started at the beginning of the decade.

This served her well on the two studio albums that she has released under her own name to date , ‘Nothing/Everything’ (2001) and ‘The Trouble with Success or How You Fit into the World’ (2003). ‘The Trouble with Success’, which involved nearly thirty other musicians, occasionally, however, overdosed on its own lavishness, and Kelley, who moved to Los Angeles a few years ago to pursue a career in writing in arranging and writing for film, seems to have learnt a lot from this.

Airports’, her first EP of new material in nearly six years and the latest with her Paula Kelley Orchestra, has all the magical hallmarks of Kelley’s previous recordings-her saccharine vocals, trilling harmonies and a familiar wall of sound-but this time, rather than congealing them all together, allows its instruments to breathe more. Kelley’s husband Aaron Tap’s chiming guitar, Lilly Aycud’s slow unfurls of trumpet and Rigel Ranciato’s weaving violin all stand out to powerful effect.

Musically this has given Kelley a greater flexibility and range too. While the opening title track is a choppy-sounding pop number, ‘Life for Life’ is an emotive Carole King piano ballad, which despite involving Aycud’s trumpet and Ranciato’s violin, remains throughout gorgeously under-stated. It is one of Kelley’s finest recording moments to date.

‘In Light of Your Less Complicated Life’ in contrast is a piece of grand scale swirling pop, which with its soaring trumpet and choral backing vocals, is in a similar territory to the Beatles’ ‘Magical Mystery Tour'. Lastly there is ‘You’re Messin’ with Me’, a silky Nina Simone-style balladic jazz pop number, which brings the EP to a very fine close indeed.

‘Airports’ will be followed by another EP at the end of the year and then a new album in 2009. On the evidence of ‘Aiports’ both of these should present very rich rewards indeed.


Track Listing