Michaela Harrison, Listen to the Music (Independent)

Michaela Harrison, Listen to the Music, album cover, OffBeat Magazine, July 2014

Michaela Harrison has a formidable voice. On her second CD, a collection of standards and should-be standards (like Cat Stevens’ “Wide World”), the Frenchmen Street chanteuse shows off her impressive range as well as an easy command of English and Portuguese.

Her powerhouse voice soars through the high passages of “Love Is Here to Stay” while turning soft and sweet on “My Funny Valentine,” lingering with ease over the line endings. Sensitive accompaniments—check out Monica McIntyre’s cello on “Valentine”—set that voice like a jewel in these 10 tunes.

Harrison’s sounds are so clear and pure it can be slightly impersonal; her take on Nina Simone’s heartbreaking “Four Women” could use more growl and ache. With an instrument like this at her command, Harrison can pretty much take on anything.

The key, for her, is in not letting it sound too easy.