On the Way

Album Review

Abra Moore opens On the Way with the pop-flavored "Into the Sunset," a warm song filled with lovely hooks. Moore's girlish vocal sketches the fate of a contemporary Icarus, a beautiful innocent who tries to touch the sky, but "it carried him away." The lyric has a nice abstract quality, spun from metaphor, while the melody and easy-flowing pop/rock arrangement lift Moore's words upward. The song's only weakness, and it's a weakness that is repeated throughout On the Way, is that Moore allows "Into the Sunset" to unfurl for four and a half minutes. Toward the end, the overall structure of the song has begun to dissipate and drift, as though no one knew when to end it. This becomes even more of a problem on ballad-paced songs like the title cut and "Sorry." On "Sorry," the trumpet adds a nice touch to the pop arrangement, and Moore's vocal falls into a relaxed, loose groove. But the song circles for over five minutes, and follows the equally sluggish "On the Way." There is great deal to like about On the Way. The mix of keyboards, pianos, guitars, and percussion fittingly underline Moore's confectionary vocal style, injecting the material with an easygoing pop feel. But On the Way never quite recaptures the magic of its opening moments, leaving the listener enchanted but wanting more. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., Rovi