SHORT SCALE: CD reviews in 200 words or less

By Rachel Heisler

CD review: Cheryl B. Engelhardt, Craving The Second (Self-released)

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 geetars

Cheryl B. Engelhardt’s music is an exercise in contemporary-soft-rock, which allows her to script some very poingant and pretty droplets of song. Her words shimmer in the sunlight and hang on dangerously close to the edge of a melancholic cliff, but she’s got a strong voice, and that voice is a combo of quaint and flirty.

Pianist at heart, the singer/songwriter formerly worked as a scuba diver for the U.S. government. Her calling got the best of her, and from diver she went to website composer, to jingle writer and music supervisor for Bigfoote Music. Craving The Second is CD numero dos for the Harlem-based musician.

Heavy, full backing instruments make Engelhardt’s piano and voice pop on songs like “Side Effects,” and she craftfully leaves the piano behind on “We,” a piece that builds to an a cappella five-part harmony. She’s clearly adept at music theory and knows how to balance music and lyric in order to make the biggest impression possible.

“Whether I’m playing the 15 people on a slow night at a local club or in front of thousands at a festival, I’m the same artist,” Engelhardt said. “It’s really all about connecting with people.”

Photo by Ivan Klaedtke

CD review: Jesse Rubenfeld, Let It Go EP (Self-released)

Rating: 1 out of 5 geetars

Jesse Rubenfeld’s piano playing may sound unnervingly like that of Billy Joel, but that’s in part to the fact that Joel is one of this newcomer’s idols. In 2001, the pianist stood before the Piano Man himself and more than 1,000 others and performed “A Friend In Bill” as a tribute.

Since then, Rubenfeld has been striving to become the next biggest thing in male piano rock, but to be completely honest, his songs are so Joel-influenced that it was a breath of fresh air when the four songs on this EP came to an end. I just couldn’t handle hearing one more song that wanted to be something it wasn’t.

As always, I wish the best to someone who works as diligently toward a goal as Rubenfeld does, but at this point I need to walk away and give him a few years to see what else he can produce. Let him simmer in his musical juices, as it were, and wait for some stylistically original sounds to step up and bloom.

CD review: Adam Gilbert, Fishing For Water (Self-released)

Rating: 2 out of 5 geetars

Of our three featured pianists, Adam Gilbert is by far the most original. One second he’s wacky and spacey (“Break Through Today”), the next all American Idol pop (“Give The World A Chance”).

He could be less preachy and still get his message of change, peace and togetherness across (“October” is a great, creepingly slow number that would, had George Michael sang it, have absolutely killed). For those who enjoy religion mixed into their weirdo rock, “Danny Knows” will fit the bill, and “Monkey” will appease those who feel the need to blend their gospel with their funk.

What Fishing For Water is missing most is melody and passion. The intent is alive and well, but the execution is M.I.A. Preaching doesn’t always translate into a call for action, and a call for action doesn’t always inspire those listening to get off the couch and change the world. It’s probably prudent to not pass judgment on Gilbert until seeing him perform live, but do this thing in the correct order: live show first, CD second.