Sarah Borrello’s debut CD Exit is loaded with edgy rockers based on influences like Tori Amos, Alanis Morisette and Fiona Apple. Whatever tempo she employs for a song, Borrello sings everything with an urgency that cannot be denied. She has something to get off her chest, and she uses that intensity to create sparks. Aside from her vocal-lyrical skills, she also commands attention with her ability to architect abundant, fulsome alt-rock soundscapes.
After a brief piano tinkling interlude Borrello launches into her bracing piano rocker “Stranglehold.” She belts this one with a timbre that ranges from husky low to smooth and high. A solid songwriter, Borrello places a thick wedge of rhythmic oomph beneath her voice and piano. It makes you feel her knocking down doors on her way to a feisty confrontation that you know she will win.
“Not Now” also jumps out of the gate with a punch. Borrello asserts herself vocally over a catchy riff and rugged rhythm. Her vocal styles, a gear shifting mix from growly belt to excited sustain to suggestive coo, all come at you like a force of nature with an ultimate plan to rock your world while the singer vents what’s going on in her psyche.
“Gimme Gimme” swaggers in, crunchy guitar chords chiming with richness. Borrello, over that bed of bracing sound, unleashes a thick husky belt that states her case with a take no prisoners attitude. The unique artfulness of it, her smooth but assertive voice contrasting with the guitar, makes the song standout, as only something by a true artist can. It isn’t so much in the techniques she uses but in how she uses them. She isn’t the first to belt over a run of electric guitar chords. But she does it with such intensity. You can really feel what is going on here.
“Chemical Burn” introduces itself more subtly, with a gentle guitar and bass weave that Borrello sings over in the purest croon. She milks the nuance out of each vocal note to create that voice-as-an-instrument presence amidst the guitar and bass. Her coos and sustains are beautiful, and, again, Borrello injects feeling and personality into her song with perfectly measured amounts of notes and emotions. She creates a mood, sets a scene, and stars in it all at once. Perfection.
Title track “Exit” finds Borrello singing one of her most passionate and sensual vocals on the album. This tune is a slow burning fuse that ignites into a fireball. Its spiraling melodies are hypnotic in their ability to keep the ears focused. Edgy guitar and organ make the perfect platform to Borrello to emote over. She drives this all forward with an earnest zeal that pulls everything in her wake along with it.
Sounding as tense as a western film score for a gunfighter’s confrontation scene, “That Man” bravely flows forward as the singer croons “that man is going to kill me some day.” Borrello as songwriter faces off with her subject matter with a husky belt that forces that listeners to focus in on her drama. It’s uncanny how, like a great short story writer, Borrello makes you want to stay with the colorful descriptive tale until its end.
“Warm Blood” marches in with a hefty guitar rhythmic drone. Another electric guitar creates sharp, spiky notes that thicken the feeling of drama and anticipation. Borrello only unleashes measured amounts of her dark, desperate vocal timbre. Again, she evokes images of movie scenes with the intensity of her delivery and the driving music beneath her.
“Unhinged” changes the pace from the previous slow burner intensity material to a more jaunty rhythm. There is a lot to be said for the guitarist slapping the chords on an acoustic. Borrello shows a more intricate vocal line here. It’s twisty, and she rides the rhythmic grooves as gracefully as she does assertively. Switching dynamics, Borrello shows class and style in her vocal articulations as she shifts gears for each part of this song.
Borrello refocuses on her tasteful piano tinkling on “Bed Of Nails.” She taps out a moving melody while she employs her high silky vocal to expressing another bucketful of feelings. Her rich voice, especially when sustaining a note, has a fresh distinct appeal. She creates something hooky and memorable as she rides her vocal range through her unique chorus.
A hefty percussive march from the roots rock tradition carries us into Borrello’s closing track, “What’s Wrong.” A chanting vocal approach lets this singer belt like a force of nature, sounding somewhat like a southern field song, leaving us with a hint of what’s to come on her future albums.
Borrello, who recently was named Best New Act at the New England Music Awards, is off to a propitious start. She had already made her name through numerous live shows, and this album of killer material will catapult her to greater heights of recognition.