Sydney Wasyers Latest CD

I first came across singer-songwriter Sydney Wayser in the small cozy-crowded space of the Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East Side. Sydney Wayser is a French-American, musically eclectic, introverted, sensual powerhouse (phew!). Her inner balance and peace offset by playful and fresh innocence translates through all of her songs.  Listening to her you can’t help but to think of a well-balanced mixture of Bjork, Alanis Morisette and Suzanne Vega with a hint of young melancholic indifference embedded in the mix.

The group consists of Sydney Wayser (vocals and piano), Blaze McKenzie (guitar), Rob Lundberg (bass), Pat Spanding (toys and randomness) and Zach Mangan (hittables). While the toys, randomness and hittables are hard to make out when listening to the songs on the CD it is a rather curious experience live. One can’t help but think that the band dug deep in the toy boxes of their childhood and just brought everything that would somehow serve as a sound-making object to the show. It was rather entertaining to watch them use glockenspiel and all kinds of different items in almost all of their pieces.

Unfortunately the CD doesn’t bring this out very much. The Colorful was officially released on March 17, 2009, and is quite a bit more refreshing than her first album The Silent Parade. The Colorful is a departure from the melancholic dream and seems to show a happier, lighter side of Sydney Wayser. They no longer make use of the cello (their cellist left the band) and concentrated on the percussion and the guitar a bit more which gives the songs a whole new life and vibe. It’s almost as if this album picks up a lot of the energy of her new hometown, New York City. “Lullaby”, my favorite piece on this CD, is extremely playful and sincere but light and sorrow-free at the same time. It’s a beautiful display of her unique voice. If you like the banjo as an instrument then “Banjo Bayou” is your song. And then there’s “La Di Da” which I find is almost too much of a dive into rock and doesn’t really have a place on the CD. After all it seems they covered all grounds with this new release and I am sure this is not the last we’ll hear from her.

I absolutely recommend seeing the band in person. The CD is decent but does not live up to the quality of their live performance.  Given the fact that this is not exactly my taste of music my statement should make indie-experimental music lovers very curious. Their next gig is at Googie’s Lounge, the 2nd floor of The Living Room, on April 3rd. Go check them out! It’s worth your time.

3 out of 5