With the artistic background into which Brooklyn's Lexie Roth was born, it was perhaps inevitable that she'd end up venturing out into some branch of the arts herself. Her father is renowned guitarist Alen Roth (he provides lead guitar here), himself the son of famed cartoonist Al Roth (or Al Ross when in print) who lived to the ripe old age of 100. Her mother too was a visual artist. Lexie began, as many people brought up in such environments do, playing guitar at a very early age and released her first album aged 18. Musically her current album 'Lexie Roth' inhabits that middle ground between indie-rock and pop, there are no obvious comparisons but maybe someone like KT Tunstall would fit a similar description.
The songs on this album are all well written and well recorded; put simply there is little wrong with the material or performance, but what you personally will make of the album will, at the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, be down to personal taste. This might seem like a void statement, but it should be clear that this is a very good album that won't find favour with people who prefer their sounds a bit more left-field, nor will it satisfy the out-and-out pop crowd, although both will be able to appreciate its quality. 'Lexie Roth' is mature pop music made with real instruments yet labeling it AOR would be a touch unfair as that implies a beige, uneventful set of songs. There is the odd track that tempts your hand towards the skip button and it does feel overlong, but the highlights are excellent.
Beginning with a brace of these helps the cause; 'Lost Memory' and 'Stay Or Go' could happily be plucked out as singles, indeed that's exactly what happened to the latter. If you don't have a sweet tooth then 'I Have To Leave You' and 'Call You My Hon' might leave an unpleasant taste, but the superb 'Ghost Of Childhood' with its great chorus, 'Windfield' and 'I'll Be', once it gets going, provide antidotes to this. 'Forget About Me', I Wanna Run' or 'Little One', nice as they are, don't feel as essential as some songs here. Really there's little to fault though, and 'Lexie Roth' is a perfectly good album, plus even if it doesn't resonate with your personal taste it's still worth a spin, you might be surprised by the odd highlight or two.
Lexie Roth's website
Stream or buy the album
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