Search - Paula Kelley :: Nothing/Everything

Sometimes delicate, sometimes deliberately frank, but always easy to sing along with, Paula Kelley's songs are full of pure pop magic on her first solo album, Nothing/Everything. Layers of vocals unsullied by artificial extravagances flush out each well-crafted tune. In a sense, Nothing/Everything is a return to the true pop of yesterday with just enough twists to let you know that it didn't come from your parents' record collection. This duality between classic and current pop is clearly evident in the album's dual title tracks, "Nothing" and "Everything." The down-tempo "Nothing" exposes Paula's relationship insecurities as she asks rhetorical questions like, "You say that when we're together that there's nowhere else that you'd rather be/So why when we're together you're never quite with me?" Echoing harmonies enhance each chorus and simple "oohs" and "ahhs" further recall pop's heyday. The faster "Everything" melds rich guitars with a chorus of voices and a touch of percussion. The resulting sound recalls the Carpenters' knack for combining deceptively simple lyrics with a rich melody and texture that helped define 70's pop. It's not until the electric guitars kick in that the listener is brought back to the present. It's a pop music history lesson and Paula's coming out song. "In a way 'Nothing' is the thought that there isn't anything in my way anymore and 'Everything' is seeing that thought through. It's also realizing that the only thing holding me back is -- me," says Paula, "And that's a big thing."