Lisa Wahlandt, Seems Like Yesterday Review

By Constance Tucker

In the world vocal jazz, a new album appears worth your attention- Lisa Wahlandt’s Seems Like Yesterday. The album is a journey through pop and rock memories, repackaged with a jazz ribbon. The Yellowbird Records release is an odyssey, charting a course through the familiar seas of mainstream genres, yet docking at the jazz harbor with an unexpected finesse.

Wahlandt, the chanteuse at the helm, possesses a voice that’s a confluence of rivers – it’s jazz, it’s pop, it’s R&B, all flowing into one harmonious delta. There’s a rawness, a certain unfiltered truth in her delivery. Each note she sings feels like a confession, a story of creative phrasing whispered directly into the listener’s soul.

Take “Stayin Alive”, a track we’ve all heard in its disco avatar. Wahlandt strips it down, repaints it with a moody jazz palette, and what emerges is a revelation. It’s no longer just a song to dance to; it’s a narrative to reflect upon. The subtleties in her voice, the slight quiver, the almost imperceptible shifts in tone – they speak volumes. This isn’t just singing; it’s storytelling.

Her interpretation of “Riders on the Storm” is another example of her vocal skill. Here’s a rock classic reborn as a jazz piece, and Wahlandt’s voice – sultry, haunting, and yet so clear – guides us through this transformation. It’s like watching a storm – beautiful, terrifying, and utterly mesmerizing.

The album’s pièce de résistance, however, is “Crashboombang”. This track, a Wahlandt original, swings with a vigor that could make the jazz greats nod in approval. It’s here that her voice truly shines – playful, powerful, and pristine. There’s a clarity in her diction that makes every word a gem to be savored, and her breath control – it’s like watching a skilled painter, each stroke deliberate and masterful.

Walter Lang’s piano, Sven Faller’s bass, and Gerwin Eisenhauer’s drums form the backbone of the album, but it’s Wahlandt’s voice that’s the soul. It’s as if she’s not just singing songs, but breathing life into them, infusing each track with a piece of herself.

Seems Like Yesterday unfolds over twelve tracks, each contain multi-layered stories that music, much like people, can tell. Lisa Wahlandt, with her eclectic and emotive voice, brings dynamic phrasing to each song that transcends imitation of the orginal. Her vocal skill, marked by a rich tonal variation and deep emotional expression, weaves through genres seamlessly. This allows her to crosses genre boundaries, creating a mosaic of sound that is as intriguing as it is harmonious. Wahlandt reminds us that music, in its most sublime form, is boundless and eternal – a beautiful collection of sounds and emotions that resonates with the complexity of human experience. With Seems Like Yesterday, we have a musical journey that reaffirms music’s universal power: beautiful, boundless, and eternally transformative.