Sarah Morris is a singer-songwriter based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area that has released three original albums to date. A professionally trained musician, Morris attended the music conservatory at Lawrence University in Wisconsin and then moved to Nashville, Tennessee upon graduation to begin her songwriting career. This most recent album, released in September of last year is titled “Ordinary Things”, and was originally conceived as part of an online songwriting challenge Morris entered into in which she wrote material based on a series of prompts. With her band, consisting of Thomas Nordlund on guitar, Andrew Foreman on bass, and Zach Schmidt on drums, Morris successfully developed her ideas at RiverRock Studios. Morris and her band now play regularly around several well-known venues in the twin cities, such as The Daktoa and Aster Cafe.
It is evident that Morris is a professionally trained musician as soon as this album begins. Not only is her vocal performance consistently high quality and dynamic throughout the album, but the overall attention to lyrical phrasing, content, and space is exceptional and leaves listeners with the impression that this material is as polished as it is thoughtful and personable. Every song, every lyric, every arrangement seems to compliment the ideas around it and create an overall atmosphere of unity between the tracks on “Ordinary Things”, which is particularly impressive if one factors in the idea that these songs were originally written for a series of prompts in an online challenge. Another positive aspect of this album is the way in which it shifts and changes moods, not only by utilizing vocal and lyrical methods, but also by implementing a variety of different instruments. “Ordinary Things” features everything from steel guitar, to saxophone, to distorted electric guitars, to keyboards, to the ukulele. The fact that Morris attempted to create tracks that were different in terms of mood and style, yet still unified with a common direction demonstrates her professionalism and creativity as a songwriter. Morris’ voice is a cross between Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood in that she has the same brand of sweet country twang, but also a considerable level skill and pop sensibility. Her band is fantastic. Usually, most listeners find pop instrumentation and arrangements to be bland, but these songs are full of interesting embellishments and phrasing that serve to compliment the professionalism of Morris’ vocals. Again, “Ordinary Things” is an album that demonstrates keen professionalism and direction from both Morris and her band.
This style of music is so difficult to stand out in. Pop-country is a saturated market, and unless bands and artists are doing something that is wildly different or popular, even some of the better acts are going to be left out of the spotlight. This is the case with Morris and “Ordinary Things”. While this album undoubtedly shows a professional and high level of both achievement and talent, and while it is one of the better albums out there in terms of the actual quality of instrumentation and composition, the basic sound of Morris’ band is a sound that so many other bands have. It would be inaccurate in a common sense to say that this album is one-dimensional, because it’s not, it’s actually quite dynamic and thoughtful. However, it is just not “different” enough to stand out in the pop-country market.
Sarah Morris is a truly talented artist with a fantastic band that has made a wonderful album out of songs that were conceived based off of prompts. In short, “Ordinary Things” deserves major props, it has a lot of positive aspects to it, and is probably one of the better, top tier pop-country albums to be made recently. However, the overall sound of this genre is so popular at the moment that it is unfortunate that this album may not get the recognition it deserves.
Artist: Sarah Morris
Album: Ordinary Things
Label: Independent
Website: http://sarahmorrismusic.com/
Genre: Pop/Alternative Country
Sounds Like: Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood
Technical Grade: 7/10
Production/Musicianship Grade: 9/10
Commercial Value: 9/10
Overall Talent Level: 7/10
Songwriting Skills: 7/10
Performance Skills: 9/10
Best Songs: Brighter, You Still Have Me
Strengths: Excellent overall song arrangement and structure
Weaknesses: Sound/Genre is very competitive
7/10 Stars
Owen Matheson
