The lady also sings the blues

Whenever a new artist is given the “big push,” it pays to note how our threatened local recording industry puts out all the stops to set a trend, or solidify an existing one — so it branches out and becomes more than just a temporary blip on the public consciousness’ radar. 

For years now, we’ve seen how acoustic concepts would stay stuck on a “covers” treatment; and to be honest, while I understood this was what the public was expecting, I sympathized with the artists who hoped to be singer/songwriters, or had dreams of stamping their own personality in the music they would come up with. With “new artist” Tricia Garcia and her CD Kulay. MCA Music, Inc. has interestingly turned this acoustic concept on its head, producing an album of pure Tagalog songs, and even having Tricia’s compositions take up four of the nine songs on the CD’s playlist.

While heralded as a new solo recording artist, it’s heartening to note that Tricia has paid her dues in the industry. She used to be with a female pop group, sang with a jazz ensemble, and did a stint with the Philippine Opera Company. So that’s quite some resumé —  jazzed-up interpretations of Sting and Beatles hits, some classical training, being adept with the guitar and piano, and a composer of various genres of music. She loves Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, and her composition, Fat Lady, is a blues song. While Fat Lady didn’t make it to the CD; given the concept of original Tagalog songs and easy listening jazz vocals, it gave this writer some comfort that there is so much more to Tricia than what we get to hear on the CD!

Tricia Garcia — Kulay (MCA Music, Inc.). The album opens with a revival of Barbie Almalbis’ Tabing Ilog theme song; and the moment Tricia’s ethereal voice comes on, one senses that here is a new artist worth taking note of and remembering. And what brought a smile to my face was that her own compositions, Tubig, Walang Salita, Sana Naman and Mamahalin Kita are among the stronger tracks on the debut album. There is a sameness to the pace and music, but I understand this was intentional, and that when Tricia performs these songs on campus or in live gigs, they do “play” with the songs, turning some into more up-tempo numbers, or adding on to the instrumentation. While the first nine tracks have a full band backing, the same nine songs are then stripped down to acoustic guitar accompaniment.

It is easy listening with a little touch of jazz, similar to how artists such as Norah Jones and Diana Krall courted their audience initially. And if mining this genre of music is what Tricia will use to get noticed, that’s fine and good. For here is a recording artist who holds much promise and takes her music seriously. When I met Tricia, the fact that she would mention Billie and Ella,and nod in agreement when I mentioned Joni Mitchell’s foray into jazz, were all testimony to how she understands what being a committed female vocalist is all about. A debut album that sets a new benchmark for homegrown easy listening jazz-pop.