Tapping my toes over here to Chicago area singer/songwriter, Bri Ingram. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but she has something that is a mixture of blues, pop and even a little bit of spunk like Dolly Parton.
Ingram’s consistently strong vocals throughout the ‘I Am’ CD shows her prowess as both a musician and medium; her words are felt just as much as they are heard. In “Can’t Even Cry” the chorus is quite catchy, but as a listener I kept wanting a little more drama, a little more hurt when I closed my eyes to really feel a song connection.
In “Belly of the Beast” (one of my favorites from the album), Ingram had a fine balance of empathy in her voice, but the spunk of an early Gwen Stefani chugging along in her delivery. This song has a few early-No Doubt parallels with its horns, jazz percussion and up-tempo trots.
Ingram’s mark on “I Can Make Little Boy Blue” and “Little Black Dress” seems to grow exponentially as ‘I Am’ continues. I like that – I like how some artists set the pace a bit slow right out of the gate and the juicy stuff is in the middle of the album. I think Ingram attains that with these tracks as well as “Save Me” and “Bad Bad Boy.”
It’s easy to draw comparisons to early Stefani or Alannah Myles. Still, Ingram possesses a subtle charm … she has grit and a lovely air to her. Her songs are about moving on, about being true to oneself and finding out what you’re made of – it’s a nice journey to take with such an interesting voice.
