Music Review // Tess Anderson "Before I Come Unhinged"

Big guitars bring in the way for a soulful sound as "Before I Come Unhinged" begins.   Tess Anderson seems to have this perfect spot for sound between rock, pop and soul.   One of the first comparisons I can pull out of these songs is Gwen Stefani, but of course as the album goes on and the more you listen to it, the more it begins to take on its own sound.   Smooth now, the distortion can come through heavily and even remind me of Evanescence.   

"Run" has crunchy guitars and feels like a blues song while "Anodyne" is fast paced and reminds me of Paramore.   "Self Control" has a nice groove to it and is a song about what the title says.   Pretty acoustics remind me of Fleetwood Mac and Jewel on "Hypocrite" while "Six Feet Under" is much more intense.  "Cave In" reminds me of P!nk while "Why" is pop rocking.  This all ends on the song "Need", which is such a powerful anthem about self care.

Perhaps more than the comparisons when listening to this album you need to think about the content of the song.   With the title "Run" it certainly makes you feel like you are fleeing.  "Six Feet Under" has a graver tone, as it is about someone being dead and buried.   The way that each of these songs takes on their own personality and you can kind of get a feeling for that just based on the title makes this album so special.  It can help to make these songs not only more accessible but also more relatable.

From lines such as "Your silence speaks too loud" to "The funny thing about passing time is we can take mistakes and we can learn to be kind" there is a lot of wisdom to be found within here as well.   At first, Tess Anderson might pull you in with this unique mix of pop, rock and some other secret third thing, but by the end you'll also want to go back and really pay attention to these words, almost using this album as a life guide as much as it is just fun to listen to it.