Cynthia Brando Connects To the Heart
by
Bohemian Path
To get right down to the bone, Cynthia Brando is that rare singer-songwriter who connects to the heart, mind and soul without any pretense of introduction. She lays everything right on the table. The three songs in this collection, "To |The Bone" flow down in a tumbling waterfall of sharpened melodic
self-harmonized vocals with masterfully sprite guitar, bass and drums by Chad and Chuck Johnson. With these three songs, Brando entices, teases, declares her sadness and independence, her loyalty and aloneness, her defiance and darkness. "Can't Be Myself" opens with a reggae tinged happy melody and a hot beat countered with the lyric: "My life hangs by a thread, it would take nothin' to end." This is followed by a declaration to her lover that she doesn't feel like herself with him anymore, but she's about to give him one more chance, however, things have to change. She's hopeful -- and not -- in the same moment. She delivers this lover's ultimatum in a voice and rhythm that makes you want to move your feet, smile, laugh and cry at the same time. Will her lover be able to deliver the goods this time? She doesn't know how it's going to turn out, she's willing to give him a chance, but no more pretending -- that's the challenge. All this is delivered with soaring vocals and guitar licks that rolick along with a wonderful melodic flourish. In "I Do It For You" she lovingly tells her partner, "I can be your social butterfly or the strong and silent type" This enticing offer is capped with a seductive truth: "don't believe that any other can do all that I do, -- I do it for you." This sweetful but strong feminine love comes forth without sacrifice: "I'll be myself and you can do the same." Like Hemingway's Catherine in "A Farewell To Arms," she says what every man longs to hear: I'll be everything you want -- whatever you desire -- and only for you. It feels like true love. But just when we think we know Brando, she turns the tables with "To The Bone," a beautiful, achingly mournful ballad in which she declares, "...now is the time I've got to let go, now is the time to see my darlin' go..." The vocals and instruments march in lockstep to inevitable heartbreak. "...Yes, I've got to be alone, to get right down to the bone." The ease with which Cynthia Brando reveals her innermost thoughts and feelings is mirrored by the casual relaxed talent that pours from her mellifluous voice. These three songs cry out for an album to be produced: the guitar and bass by the Johnson brothers rise to the height of inspired professional skill. Combined with Brando's vocal powers and her expression of poetic honesty, this record will surely touch the nerve of a music-loving public thirsty for new singer-songwriters.
----Michael Danzig
