Layla Frankel: Postcard from the Moon

Singer Layla Frankel has found a way to use her soulful jazzy delivery into Americana and folk on her new EP Postcard from the Moon. Now based in Nashville, TN, she hooked up with producer and musician Jim Kimball for a bunch of songs about trying to heal after a breakup she thoroughly regrets. In hindsight she realized that she can't do without "tender loving care" (TLC) and she still hopes that her ex Josephine will reconsider: "I know apologizing doesn’t change a thing,// but if you’re listening, I promise I’ll be better// I just want more time together". She used a passage from Susan Orlean’s The Library Book as the starting point for her new single Dear Jennie. It is the story of a love letter, written anonymously to a woman named Jennie, that has been gathering dust for decades in a book. Embedded in a rich neo-country arrangement of strings, guitars and keys, Frankel tells the story with compassion, picking up the most likely one-sided conversation.

Postcard from the Moon supersedes her debut Tame the Fox on all levels. She has grown as a lyricist and uses her voice with confidence as the lead instrument. Any thoughts about being out of place in "Music City, U.S.A." can be put away now. Next step: a full-length, hopefully with the same bunch of ace musicians having her back.

HCTF premiere - Layla Frankel: Dear Jennie

Singer Layla Frankel took a passage from Susan Orlean’s The Library Book as the starting point for her new single Dear Jennie. It is the story of a love letter, written anonymously to a woman named Jennie, that has been gathering dust for decades in a book. Embedded in a rich neo-country arrangement of strings, guitars and keys, Frankel tells the story with compassion, picking up the most likely one-sided conversation.

Layla Frankel: Tame the Fox

photo: Aleya Cydney

Long story short: American jazzy folk singer hikes through through Israel, carrying a copy of The Little Prince, and finds inspiration for her new EP. So far, so good, but Layla Frankel's Tame The Fox is a bit faceless, She can sing, it sounds all good, but it doesn't stick. She was trained as a jazz singer, but she gets stuck in a rather bland folk groove that doesn't do justice to her range and phrasing.

For her next hike she should pick up a book that is filled with more complex characters than the archetypes that are running rampant in the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry classic.