It was almost exactly two years ago that I wrote about Chanelle Davis' first album. Now she's just released her second one, and very good it is too.

Since Yesterday is now in shops and Chanelle is coming to town next week to launch it so, even if she is based in Auckland now, I think we can still claim her as a Tauranga singer and celebrate the release of another 'local” album.
In case you know nothing about Chanelle Davis, let me do a little nutshelling.
Chanelle is an ex-Tauranga Girls' College student who started playing piano when she was four. She developed a solid history of rockquests and stage shows, and followed that up with a MediArts degree in commercial music from Waikato Institute of Technology.
Then in 2006 she was one of the ten finalists in the MLT Songwriting Awards (part of the Gold Guitar Awards in Gore) with the song 'Your Only One”. Later that year the song was included on her debut CD, Better Than Alone, in the original live form from Gore.
Better Than Alone was an eight-track mini-album, a collection of simple and understated performances, Chanelle's voice mainly accompanied only by her refined piano playing. It sounded at times almost like a demo for things to come.

And things did come from it. A year later Chanelle was back in Gore for the Songwriter's Trust Awards where her song 'Dear Jon” emerged a winner. In fact, from the 200 entries she ended up with three songs on the top ten. This was followed by an appearance on TV1's Good Morning show and, later in 2007, a nationwide tour.
The $2500 prize money also proved a big help in recording new songs, the result being Since Yesterday, in shops now courtesy of Auckland's Ode Records.
Since Yesterday is a huge step forward from her previous release. Part of that is down to the sympathetic production from Kovi Mongelli at Auckland's Souled Out Studios, but most of it comes from the growing confidence and broader sweep of Chanelle's songwriting.
Chanelle has a light and fairly delicate reedy voice, reminiscent perhaps of Goldenhorse's Kirsten Morrell, and the pleasant breezy arrangements keep it front and centre along with her deliberately straightforward piano lines. The album opens with the award-winning 'Dear Jon”, a sweet melancholic ode to moving on that is spiced with some subtle strings (real ones!). From that and the second track it is easy to assume this will be an album of light, fairly anonymous pop tunes. But things change with the playful, vaguely New Orleans-inflected 'My Favourite Place” and as the album progresses it continually dips into unexpected musical directions.
'Andy” is almost a rock song while 'Low Compatibility” (with it's great chorus line of 'Everyone's in love but not with me”) is a swinging blues and 'The Man I Love” has a jazzy trumpet and kicks in with the sound of old vinyl (perhaps a reference to the old Billie Holiday song of the same name). With its wah-wah guitar 'Since Yesterday” harks back to seventies soul while the bounce of 'A.M.A.N.D.A” is almost musical theatre. And while that might sound too diverse for comfort, all the styles remain cohesive thanks to both the smoothness of the production and the consistency of Chanelle's voice.
And while Since Yesterday initially seemed a little lightweight I've grown to really like this album. There is some very fine musicianship (Walter Bianco, take a bow on sax) and the songs are accomplished and still fresh. Occasionally Chanelle (for reasons that escape me) seems to slip into a faux-English accent, an affectation that can grate somewhat, but I'm sure that mannerism will pass. As a taster of a future career on the rise, this album bodes very well.
Meanwhile, if you want to catch up with what Chanelle is doing, she will be having an album release show - complete with live band - next Friday (November 21) down at the Naked Grape. Singer/songwriter Daniel Munro will be her support act with things kicking off at around 8.00pm. There is no cost. You can also go and have a listen to tracks from the new album at myspace.com/chanelledavis.
watusi@thesun.co.nz