Rebecca Turmel
Rebecca Turmel is a young artist on the rise. With a background in professional musical theater, she has true vocal ability, training, and she knows how to apply her discipline to her angsty original singer-songwriter material. Last night, Turmel shared her work with an enthusiastic crowd at Pressed Cafe in Salem, New Hampshire.
Turmel’s opening number “After Glow” showed she is comfortable in that zone between quiet and loud, moving through a song with her young, soulful voice. Her original, “I’m Missing Something,” about to reach 10,000 streams, lets her coo her way into brave heartache, emotionally honest lyrics about loss. Her soft silky voice moved around her melody line with a self-restrained voice that made more robust the emotive quality by keeping it just below the surface. Her plaintive sustains made one feel her soul crying out.
While singing “When You’ve Got Trouble,” Turmel expressed mutual and heartfelt respect for another. She carried it out with her pure voice, a voice that lets listeners feel the depth of her song, her vulnerability. Turmel unveiled a newer song, “I Know A Boy,” that she sang, at times, soft as a whisper, eventually making her audience feel her song by shifting from emotional sustains to stronger belts.
Rebecca Turmel
Her song “Empty Glass” let Turmel express frustration with a young man who finds solace in alcohol. Her plaintive vocals revealed the painful frustration of trying to keep up with that person’s emotional world. “Big Yellow Taxi” allowed Turmel a chance to push her voice, timbre, and dynamics through something everyone recognizes. She captured all of the tortured longing for something that’s now gone.
Her song “After All,” another new one possesses a haunting quality, mostly because, again, her tortured soul vocal. Her acoustic guitar phrasing reflected understated sorrow, combing with her voice to capture what’s gone missing. Turmel sang with a sharper edge, using a sharper lyric on original song “Criminal” to make an even more stunning indictment this time around. Next, Turmel showed her angst roots using Alanis Morrisette’ss “Hand In Pocket” to show how her own voice captures the urgently frail.
Rebecca Turmel
Employing a sturdy, spirited acoustic guitar line, Turmel sent her voice traveling over her song “Wish You Well” with girlish aplomb. Turmel also employed the you have to die to get to heaven philosophy, using an edgier timbre on Kat Wright’s “Reminder,” her do or die edge packing a punch.
For a young singer-songwriter, Turmel has a mastery of many different vocal deliveries. Her rendition of Tate McRae’s “You Broke Me First” found her finessing a talk-sing style with a lot of self-confidence. Like the actress she used to be in theater, Turmel drew the pain from inside herself and brought it forward for the audience to hear and feel in her voice.
Turmel’s ability to juggle cools, belts, and dynamics along with different styles and approaches in presentation also showed itself in more of her cover songs. She finessed the teetering vocal on “Ain’t No Sunshine,” the sultry vibe on “Too Close” by Alex Clare, the tense rhythms and urgent tempo of Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings,” the slick groove of Bruno Mars’ “Grenade,” the plaintive sustains and delicate coos of Kelly Clarkson’s “Didn’t I.”
Older listeners could appreciate Turmel’s understanding of the fullness and energy of “Me And Bobby McGee,” “Jolene,” “Dreams,” and Big Yellow Taxi.”
With amazing the energy and depth of knowledge and ability possessed by such a young singer-songwriter, Turmel, with her busy New England touring schedule, is, judging by her live show, off to a promising start.
