Rhode Island rocker chick Malyssa Bellarosa just dropped this eight song album Affinity. It’s an excellent showcase of her ability to fuse all sorts of good rock music into her own personal sound. Angst, served up with garage rock, psychedelic leanings, and 1980s pop is the order of the day here.
Opening track “Great Escape” builds up from a few simple electric guitar chords until it becomes a huge sounding anthem for adventure. Bellarosa’s vocal soars over the heft of guitars, bass, and drums during the chorus, the aural equivalent of a bonfire. During the song’s quieter, moodier portions she sings as if entranced by other worldly forces, her voice a cool cross between electronic and seductive.
“Indigo On Fire” finds Bellarosa emitting her haunted voice over a wave of electronic keyboard effects. While the instruments engage with their low key moodiness, Bellarosa puts across a vocal timbre somewhere in between the quiet summoning of a long forgotten goddess and a woman trapped in another dimension. She contrasts her eerie vocal well against her own soft backing coos.
“All Used Up” makes the most of a special theme in rock music; someone’s neurotic state of having nothing left to give after perhaps giving too much. A wedge of guitar and bass slink around underneath her exotic, whispery vocal. Together, voice and instruments conjure a mystical vibe. Then, things take a turn toward the rocking. Bellarosa croons with assertion here, belting out her chorus over a driving guitar, making a powerful statement both lyrically and musically.
On “Wanting More” Bellarosa proves she can handle herself well singing a piano ballad. Her voice, beautifully subtle, moves alongside a George Dussault piano line and a Matt Crawford cello melody. Smooth and pretty, Bellarosa’s voice easily rides the rails of this soft, evocative accompaniment. Her sustains are artfully delivered and tastefully self-restrained. She doesn’t reveal any more power that she needs to. When her moment comes to shine during this number, she finds it on instinct and sends her vocal notes sailing over the sonic landscape.
Bellarosa constructs “Tomorrow” with the cornerstones of her voice, her guitar, Jeff Sullvan’s bass line, and Jay Jefferson’s drumming. With a palpable groove bubbling up from the rhythm section, Bellarosa presses out her riffy lead guitar phrase, a droning, mournful beauty that fit’s the locked in groove like a glove. Her vocal, meanwhile, moves above in a circular pattern, hitting the same touches as the support instruments in a perfect symmetry.
“By My Side” lets Bellarosa showcase her surf guitar influences as well as her appreciation for oldies girl band songcraft. She indulges in young feminine slinkiness with funky applications of her voice. Her verse vocal sounds like a steady climb. Her chorus voice is all jumpy energy. When she phrases on lead guitar later in the song, she puts out a mean, lean grind that shows attitude as well as skill. One will enjoy this song for how well Bellarosa fuses her influences and for how well she can gives her song personality.
“It’s All Right” is a rowdier rocker, part Ramones, part Bangles. All instruments are tightly compressed, driving forward with energetic tenacity. A stomping drumbeat turns up the heat as Bellarosa belts with a gloriously punk attitude.
Close out track “Groove With Me” takes things down tempo. With an electro pop perfection in the spread of synths, Bellarosa lets her voice ooze out with gentle allure. One can picture her holding onto her microphone with white gloves, singing coolly over a slow, wiry keyboard line. She wraps her voice around that sound like she’s caressing it with her very soul. The effect is to marry her sweet vocal to a desired emotion. She succeeds as do all the instruments, played by Shawn Garrity, as they layer together in way suggesting early Pink Floyd.
This Affinity album offers a glimpse into what goes on in the mind of a true artist. Malyssa Bellarosa perfects her mesh of garage rock, hints of modern electronica, psychedelic leanings, and 1980 pop vocals. With help from producers George Dussault at Galilee Productions and Shawn Garrity as well as musicians Sharlene DeNardo, Nick Iddon, Matt Crawford, Jeff Sullivan, and Jay Jefferson, Bellarosa has crafted a perfect document of her own unique musical vision,
https://www.malyssabellarosa.com/affinity
