Ingrid Michaelson Hits Paydirt on Sixth Record

Ingrid Michaelson

As you may or may not know, I have followed Ingrid Michaelson's career since her MySpace days, even reviewing her album "Human Again" on this blog.  For her sixth studio album, "Lights Out", Ingrid hits paydirt again, although this album is vastly different than her other releases.

Ingrid Michaelson, a brainy beauty from New York with tortoise-shell glasses, is like our generation's Lisa Loeb.  She has always been kind of folksy, but "Lights Out" takes a vastly different direction, with more of a pop flare.  Ingrid has also been known to have an almost jealous control of her music, often secluding herself in the studio with just herself and a producer, exclusively writing all of her own material.  This collection is more of a collaborative effort, using an army of songwriters - like Storyman, Trent Dabbs, and Mat Kearney.  She also uses several guest musicians.  The result is a warm, bubbly pop album that retains Ingrid's distinctive style and effervescence.

Of course, just about everyone has heard the singles from this record as they receive heavy airplay on most pop stations.  There is the memorable "Girls Chase Boys" with its video paying homage to Robert Palmer, as well as the jazzy "Time Machine" with its hilarious video with several celebrity comedian cameos.  And "Afterlife", one of my favorites with its easily identifiable whistling intro.

But there are plenty of other good songs on here.  There is the somber "Wonderful Unknown", sung with her ex-husband, Greg Laswell.  "Stick" with its light synth beat is probably my favorite song on here.  "Over You", a piano ballad with A Great Big World is pretty good.

This album is not as moody and as moving as "Human Again", but, for a pop album it is pretty good.  I wish that more pop artists had as much integrity as Ingrid Michaelson.  I have followed her for a while, and I will likely keep following her.