1. I Believe - A little background before getting into the track breakdown. Midnight Siren is a combination of Adult Contemp, Jazz & Blues. Lead vocals by Karen Maria Capo, Piano/Keyboard work by John Kelly. Another album that isn't the typical review, I have to say that it's more then welcome. The reason we started this website in the first place was simply to talk about as many different styles of music as we could, that we enjoy. Starting out this album is "I Believe" a song that has a great message. The lyrics are well rounded and easy to follow, personally I'm a sucker for the high and low movements that Karen is able to portray with her vocals. The finger snaps were a great touch as well, some albums try and replicate that but it turns out muddy, not here. The vocal vox backing shocked me as I wasn't expecting it, not to mention the fun tones of what sounds like an xylophone, my guess done on a keyboard. (I use similar elements in my material, so I personally loved hearing it.)

2. Take A Stand - I found the bass to stick out a bit more in this track as it had more of an attitude. Lyrics, like before are perfectly written and flow nicely with Karen's vocals. But this time to me, this song had more to offer then the previous because it was the catchy lyrics that had me hooked. Not even halfway through and I was singing along. Piano movement was well placed and the drums didn't overpower anything. They were so well played that to me they were hardly noticeable, which really allowed the backing vocal mix to shine through.

3. Instead Of Sleeping - So far what I found is that every intro, while similar, is in fact different. The opening basically sets up the vocal arrangement and from there you can get a good sense of what the song is about. Now the drums on this track are a bit more in play with the use of what I'll refer to as "Click Sticks." It's not the full drum being hit but the stick on the rim that adds to the design of the track. There's a great area of the song where it's just instrumental, just the piano with bass and drums, reminds me of being in a Jazz club.

8. One Good Reason - This song has that James Bond feel, what I mean is that I could see this track as a background track in a 007 film. The soft flow to start with was as if it was a theme song to something and then the song picked up which lead me to believe there's more to this track then meets the eye. My personal favorite track on the album.

10. Night Bird - The lyrics here are perfectly written, frankly this is the best written track on the album in terms of lyrics. You can really get a sense of what Karen and John are trying to convey by just listening to the soothing piano movements combined with a completely different solo area. Great stuff!

11. 'Till We Meet Again - Rounding out this album is another classic soft track. There's a lot of piano movements here, to me this song has that moving water feeling. When you watch leaves flow down a river as they slowly drift away.

Here's another example of an artist contacting me and I wasn't aware of their material. Midnight Siren is a combination of classic Jazz/Blues with new effects at times. The material as a whole is put together pretty nicely. From the soothing piano movements to Karen's vocal mixes it's clear this combination will go far.

What I found while listening to this album was a sense of "Class", what I mean by that is simply you are taken back to a time when music was simple. There's no overpowering drums to blast through the stereo speakers or guitars that are so in your ears that their going to fall off any minute. What you have is simply a classic soothing piano movement mixed with a backing bass and Karen's vocals to tell you a story. It's all about making you feel what they feel, the lyrics are instruments truly set the mood.

If your looking for a rock disc, (I know some of you are only into one genre of music) then I can't convince you to head on over to their website and pick up a copy of this album. What I can suggest is that you check out their website and let the music speak for itself, check out the sound clips and just see. For those of you looking for something classic that is all about shier class then this disc is for you. A fun, light album that truly does lay everything out on the table. Grab this album, kick back and let the soothing sounds of Midnight Siren take you away.

Final Rating For "Midnight Siren - Instead Of Sleeping":

    0.75 Points = Transitions / Order
    0.95 Points = Fun Factor
    1 Point = Instruments / Vocal Sound
    1 Point = Writing / Lyrics
    0.75 Points = Overall Design / Feel

    Overall Total: 4.45/5