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Being a vocalist is an extroverted pursuit by its very nature. All of the artists who are a part of the SoulTracks family live this public life that seems to be all consuming from the outside looking in. Truth be told, an artist looking to do this music thing full time has to commit at a level that most people just can't appreciate. Making beautiful music is hard work. The best artists do more than sing. They inhabit a song and work to break down barriers between themselves and the audience. This allows the listener to suspend disbelief and it can seem as if the performer is singing to that one person. At one level, however, entertainers are just like us. Their job defines them to a large extent. However, music is not the entire substance of their being. Many artists have children, spouses, hobbies, interests and beliefs that are apart from their music.
I thought about this as I visited the Web page of vocalist Heather Park. Park is a Korean-American R&B singer who works as a beauty publicist on her day job. She's also a techie and a food aficionado who writes food reviews on her blog. This means that Park is a three dimensional, multi-faceted human being. But SoulTrackers may be primarily interested in Heather Park the music maker who has just released a new album titled Stay.
Park defines herself as a confident vocalist who has a comfort level performing in a wide variety of styles. She can go from an up-tempo funk/dance tune such as "Woman Warrior," to a hip-hop/soul joint such as "Somebody Else." Her silky soprano soars on the "Just Can't Wait" - a song that sports a hook and a horn section that brings to mind some of Incognito's best work.
The mid-tempo ballad "Endless Possibilities" stands out as a high point on an album that includes many. Park puts everything together on this tune. She meshes a mid-tempo groove with lyrics that are both conversational and passionate. The arrangement is excellent. Liner note readers will see that Park handles all of the vocals on this song. That makes the lushness of the backing vocals even more noteworthy because they sound distinct from the lead vocals.
The bedroom anthem "Stay With Me Till Dawn" reveals that Park is also an excellent balladeer. I've always been a fan of vocalists who deliver their lines with clarity and good phrasing and Park brings a jazz singer's sense of diction and phrasing to this ballad. Another song that bears a mention is the torch song "Now That You're Gone." I like the way the arrangement moves from sparse to orchestral and eventually to a rock/funk crescendo.
Stay is an album that sports several songs with strong radio potential. What's better is that Park manages to write radio friendly music without sacrificing quality. That trick definitely marks this self-described Seoul Sistah as an artist worth watching. Recommended.
By Howard Dukes