While all the major labels keep lamenting about lost sales and the lack of true and long-lasting talents out there that could fill their purse, one look on various music sites on the internet shows you the contrary. There are enough very gifted musicans and singers out there. All they need is just a little nurturing and promotion. Take Debórah Bond for example. Born in New Haven, Connecticut (USA), she began singing at the age of six and while taking a break from studying Journalism and Music/Vocal Performance at American University, she sang at a New Haven restaurant. One night, a stranger approached Debórah and told her that she possessed an amazing gift: the ability to take everything inside of her and extract it through song. At least, that's what her website tells us and it's true.
Her debut Day After is a brilliant soul album that will instantly grab you if you love musicans like Fertile Ground, Julie Dexter, Kindred The Family Soul and most of the other artists mentioned on this website. Deborah comes to you with a warm and organic sound thanks to her band 3rd Logic, that consists of Kinard Cherry (drums, guitar), Robbie McDonald (guitar, keys), Aaron Evans (bass), N'Digo Rose (rhodes) and Josh Kay (percussion). Guest musicans include Craig Alston (of Fertile Ground fame, playing tenor sax on A Message), Nicolas Laget (flute) and James McDonals (drums) on This Is Me and Maurice Davis (piano) on Don't Waste Your Time.
Like with all good albums, it's hard to pick a favourite song here. With ten self-written songs (and one hidden bonus, a remix of Love's Been Waiting) on offer there's enough to keep every soul music fan happy. Take See You In My Dreams for example, that tells us about missing someone so deeply ("I wonder what his eyes see now/ How I wish they were lookin' into mine/ I'm dyin' and I don't know how/ How I'm gonna survive each day/ Just wanna hear you say/ Just wanna hear you say that you're on your way") or the uplifting A Message, a, er, message about spreading love.
But Debórah can dig deeper lyricwise with the sweet soul groove of Giving Up, a song that finds her in some desperate situation but, still, she refuses to give up ("But emotions will break down/ I never thought that I would ever feel this alone/ Dealin' with the pain and the hurt on my own/ Tryin' to keep a little hold on my pride/ Free what's inside").
With This Is Me, a fine uptempo song with a great flute solo by Nicolas Laget and equally appealing percussions, Deborah celebrates the grace of god and the magic of life in general.
Don't Waste Your Time sees Debórah giving advice to a friend not to waste her time with a man that doesn't treat her like he should, while Things Will Never Be The Same tells the sad story of a friendship turn sour all of a sudden and even though they get it all together again, there's still the disappointment on the singer's side. A rather sad and blue instrumentation intensifies the unhappy story.
If these songs haven't convinced you already, then there's also Sweet Lullabies, a fine ballad, Love's Been Waiting and Keep On. The title track, Day After, is some kind of short instrumental intro to Keep On. The message behind calling the song and the album Day After is, like Debórah puts it, to "symbolize the feeling of enlightenment and clarity that a person develops the day after they've been 'awakened', per say".
Miss this music- and lyricwise deep album at your own peril. But since you now have heard about it, why not check out the links at the end of this review and listen into some of the songs?