Amanda Morra

Toronto-born Amanda Morra could never be accused of only having one string to her bow. Her self-titled debut album was recorded in a year out from her studies of Kinesiology, and she's mixed this in with various live performances and other entertainment work. It's getting tracks like her cover of 'Dreams' a lot of Canadian radio play and media attention. The first thing that strikes about this album is Morra's voice. Classically trained from a young age, she seems equally able to apply it to the R&B duet 'Room To Breathe' (featuring soulful crooner George Nuzuka) as she does to pure pop tracks such as 'Say Hey'. There are other styles at work as well, the dancey 'The Spell' (almost nu-Britney?) another noteable vocal outing for the singer. She does fall into a little too many of the 'pop traps', probably more the fault of the industry than herself, and this gives the album too much of a manufactured note for my liking. The voice is already there - it needs to be applied to something truly worthwhile, then she'd have the makings of a pop gem.