Album Review: Michelle Chamuel – Face The Fire
3 min read
Michelle Chamuel may be best known as being the runner-up on the fourth season of The Voice US, but she has had her fingers in all kinds of musical pies since she was four years old, beginning with the violin and piano. Before her recent success, Chamuel was the lead singer of the band Ella Riot and one half of electronic pop duo s/he; as a producer, she uses her moniker The Reverb Junkie, under which she released the album All I Want in 2013 that climbed the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart. Now in 2015, Michelle has unleashed her first pop release since her appearance on The Voice entitled Face The Fire, which saw her reunite with former Ella Riot band mates Tyler Duncan and Theo Katzman to write and produce the record together.
The choice of using the metaphor “facing the fire” is because Chamuel personally relates to it, having worked hard to do what she believes in and reaping the rewards; lead single and title track Face The Fire is catchy and unexpected from a former Voice contestant, though it is poppy it still stands on its own and you fail to categorise it with other mainstream pop singles. The electronic pop ballad The Fall has synths to die for, the electronic drums add this nice distorted beat to it that help make this track memorable, once again Chamuel’s voice is beautiful; the album’s third single Golden again sees use of synths, the norm for electronic pop, another catchy track; Made For Me begins a little bland, and its chorus is unexpectedly anticlimactic, it doesn’t stand out as far as its predecessors. Second single Lottery has a fun synth line and an overall energetic vibe, its chorus oozes with fantastical electricity.
Weight Of The World doesn’t present anything too versatile from what has been heard thus far, but still fits into the sound of the record nonetheless; if there’s a track on this record that makes you want to smile within its first second of play, Rock It is certainly that track with its fun and poppy melody and its encouraging lyrics. Wake Up has an interesting soundscape with the keyboard and hydraulic-esque noise heard in its background, and Money has a fun reggae influenced vibe which is a huge contrast to its lyrics which tell the story of a money hungry love interest; Give You ends the album on an honest note, “you only get what you see, all I can give you is me” chirps Michelle as she draws the album to a close.
Face The Fire has a surprising sound, Michelle Chamuel knows exactly what she wants from her electronic/pop music and she achieved a sound unique to her; as a producer of the same genre, you would hope that she had an inkling of how to deliver. At times the album temporarily lacked diversity between tracks, often you would be getting served the same dish when it came to melody or overall sound, but Chamuel has achieved something special and unexpected since her appearance on The Voice. The sound gone for with Face The Fire is addictive and fun, and we can’t wait to hear what Michelle Chamuel has in store next.
