Kristin Cifelli
Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ - October 22, 2003

The guitar is secondary to the vocal masterpiece known as Kristin Cifelli. After seeing her play some selections from her upcoming album, I'm eager to tell our readers all about it!

With a voice powerful, edgy and angelic, Kristin Cifelli doesn't need much else to steal a show.

Dan and I always enjoy venturing out to colleges for shows – it allows us to remember our college years together. We're always jealous of the cute cafes on campus that never seemed to adorn ours. So we were glad to meet up with Cifelli in a modern coffeehouse on the campus of Seton Hall University.

I was more than pleasantly surprised to find Cifelli the center of attention in the intimate cafe. She grasped her guitar and began playing melodically – but it was her voice that really whisked me into her performance. Call her Sarah McLachlan with an acoustic—call her Amy Fairchild or Sheryl Crow…whomever you compare her to, you'll still wind up short of finding an adequate comparison…because there is none. Cifelli is of her own mind, in her own world.

The songs she belts out are literary masterpieces set to music. She's got wit, edge, and depth…and a voice to convey the elaborate emotions she writes about. Her voice soars, softly yet intensely, and her poetic lyrics etch the meaning of her songs into your heart. She's got that soft, sometimes raspy voice that sinks into you and draws you in at the same time. If her voice doesn't seduce you into buying her album, I don't know what else will.

Of course I knew all this the minute I heard her begin to preview some tunes from her upcoming album. She performed "Sad Place", and belted out, "I'm gonna find a new lover/But it might take my whole life through." Some of her other new songs I heard were "Let Them Try", "Show Them" and "Benefit of the Doubt". Her new songs cover themes of love but extend to explore introspection about relationships and childhood, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Having heard a demo version of her new song, "Let It Go", I was eager to hear it live. It was amazing, let me tell you. She told the audience, "This is a song about when grown-ups fight." Effortlessly, she carried the high pitches in the song through with her gentle acoustic strums.

She sang, "So you hold on tight/To the pain you know/Let it go, let it go." Lyrically, this song is awesome, and it was neat to hear about its origins. It's definitely worth checking out. She also played "Love Your Hurt", which has a bit of a country undertone to it, and the chorus goes, "Don't you worry about nothing/Cuz this thing's gonna pass/Don't you cry about nothin', the tears will decay/And I'm gonna love your hurt away."

She played a cover of Ron Sexmith's song, "Nothing Good," and also covered "I Know Why The River Runs" by Julie Miller.

In her new song, "Why Can't You Love", she softly sang, "I used to think you were the marrying kind/But I've almost changed my mind."

She then broke into "Martyr," which is her signature song, so to say. This is the tune that launched her onto Shekinah 13 Artists, a compilation which celebrated the diverse female alumni of Berklee College of Music. This song has a soothing element uncommon in today's folk/acoustic world. That and its excellent lyrics make it a classic in my book.

Next came more selections from Silver Bowl, including "Sorry Little Girl" and my personal favorite "All the Way Down." She explained that it was dubbed as similar to Suzanne Vega's song, "Tom's Diner".

During "Tarnished", she really proved that she doesn't need a back up band or studio sounds to make her music shine. She played the guitar with such rhythm and it occurred to me that she's the kind of musician who was made to put an acoustic guitar and a mic to good use.

She closed with Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors", which was the best version of the song I've ever heard. It was a good closing song due to its familiarity and her ability to add unique harmonies into the tune.

By the end of her 16-song set, the crowd was hooked. Personally, I could have listened to her go on forever…I adore her voice. It's so luring, so pristine…so honest.

This show couldn't have been better. It was great to hear Cifelli open up about her songs, preview some upcoming music, and play some of my older favorites. I am hoping her new album sends her music career to new heights, and you can bet that I'll be featuring her new album as soon as I get my hands on it.

Reviewed by Kristen Fischer
DiscoveringArtists.com