Search - Sari Trio Baker :: Still Feel You

Sari Baker's voice is beautiful, all the more so because she sings with such care, with the slightest restraint, as if she knows that to unleash all the power she possesses would bring listeners to their knees in supplication. She'd rather seduce and entice us to her side.

On "Still Feel You," the new CD by the Sari Baker Trio,
Sari's voice floats, winds and wraps around the framework of Tami Pallingston's bass and Joel Sonenshein's guitar - both excellent - like fragrant jasmine vine. The instrumentation anchors the singing, adds a layer of complexity to the songs, but never overpowers or even intrudes upon the vocals. It's a perfect blend.

"Still Feel You" is made up of songs about love and loss and
freedom. It's sweet without being sappy, mad without being whiny, smart without being smug - an ideal balance, from the first track to the last. And that last track, "Free," is a killer, starting off "I ain't got nobody/and ain't nobody got me" as if the song's going to be about loneliness, but no - it's about the kind of not-having that's a good thing. "Like the breeze through the branches, I'm free," Sari sings, and by the end of the song, we're infused with that same rush. Gorgeous stuff.

Jennifer Savage - Arcata Eye