Album Review: Tina Arena – Reset
4 min read
With a coveted spot on this year’s Australian Dancing With The Stars, it seems that the time is just about right for Tina Arena to unveil a brand new studio album and that is exactly what the songbird is about to do as we edge closer to the release of Reset, a 13 track collection of brand new pennings from one of Australia’s most adorned vocalists.
Having won over global audiences with the release of the phenomenal Don’t Ask way back in the mid-nineties, Tina Arena solidified her place in music history and in our hearts with some of the ballad world’s finest inclusions such as Chains, Heaven Help My Heart, Sorento Moon and her flawless rendition of the Maria McKee power-ballad, Show Me Heaven. Releasing records periodically over the following two decades, Arena also paired up with other artists to perform and record with including Latin star Marc Anthony and opera favorite, Andrea Bocelli.
Gathering 13 new tracks for a new album must seem like such an easy task for Arena whose vocals have suited each new style that she takes under her wing but it is back to her roots with the singers latest effort with a running order that sounds much like a follow up to Don’t Ask than any other within her catalogue and we couldn’t be happier with the end result.
Love You Less, a gorgeously arranged, sorrow-fueled ballad starts the journey through the new record and is a radio hit just waiting to happen. The track has been crafted with the mainstream in mind as Tina sings casually around a mid-tempo and sweet instrumentation with some uplifting, soaring vocal moments dotted throughout the songs almost 4 minute duration.
The momentum is stripped back slightly on the following piano led Still Running; Tina positioning herself confidently over a minimalistic backdrop of keys and subtle strings and some touching lyricism.
You Set Fire To My Life is the first single to be lifted from Reset and is not just one of the best tracks of Tina’s career to date but also one of the best tracks, if not THE best track, of 2013. The singer unleashes her signature powerhouse vocals on the songs hook drenched chorus while she lets the verses take a back seat, offering us a musically contrasting smash for the singer and a track that gets stuck instantly in your head. It’s lyrically sentimental; Tina telling of encouraging love and one that stays with her for many years regardless of life’s aging process or whether everything that she owns is lost. The track also has a soft and memorable dream sequence that lifts off with Tina’s vocals soaring through a goose-bump inducing vocal crescendo that serves as a reminder as to why Tina Arena is one of the greatest vocalists in music, past and present. Truly stunning!
Let Me In is another addition to Reset that is radio-ready and in fact it wouldn’t be all too surprising if the song is chosen as a future single cut from the record with its mainstream glossing and hook-filled vocal structure while the songbirds evident finesse runs rampant on the following Out Of The Blue with its sugary vocal construction.
Further in, It’s Just What It Is pulls together a beautiful patchwork of strings and piano tinkering with the musicians finesse soaked vocals skipping in an almost improvised fashion throughout the track.
Reset is an album that showcases Tina’s vocal prowess in the same way that Don’t Ask displayed a vocalist free of flaw. Songs like lead single You Set Fire To My Life, the swaying Only Lonely and the summery ballad, Destination Unknown, which is found near the end of the track-listing, fall within similar territory to her early material while still sounding modern and retaining Tina’s relevance in pop music. It’s a record that contains a style that Tina Arena fans are familiar with but also a few surprises to keep us engaged and craving more from the Chains hit-maker. Reset is exactly what we were hoping to receive from Tina as she enters a new career peak.
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