"Bedtime Story" Kelley Dolan

a Review by Anna Maria Stjärnell

Kelley Dolan has made an unusual-sounding record. It mixes electronic sound live instruments and Dolan's amazing vocal.

The techno-ish opener "Sunday Dresses" is what you get if you let a drunk Aphex Twin remix Björk.

"Hat Song" rests on Dolan's very Tori Amos-like vocal and adds tasteful strings.

In "Deliver Me" the protagonist looks for salvation at a Chinese take-out. The song sounds like a pop song arranged for a classical orchestra.

"Windshield" is a delicate yet suspenseful song. Its angelic choral arrangements and the creepy undertones mesh well.

"Heading Home" starts like a song by electronica-era Everything but the Girl but is less polite. Dolan's voice seems utterly at home in the wide-screen arrangement. The song glides from toy electronica to quasi-classical in a heartbeat.

The title song tells a disturbing tale. It's not one to tell impressionable kids, that's for sure.

Kelley Dolan has a refreshing approach to music and composition that allows her to side-step convention and some up with some fresh new sounds. That makes "Bedtime Story" a real masterpiece.

Posted on June 19, 2003

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