High school student Meresha mixes old, new sounds
Posted: 6:26 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013
By Bill Meredith - Special to The Palm Beach Post
“Lunatic,” the debut EP by youthful area singer/multi-instrumentalist Meresha (meresha.com), raises more questions than answers. But that’s not a bad thing, since the questions center on how a high school student could create such an original work; whether she played or programmed most of the instruments on this one-woman project and how she could mix the throwback unorthodoxy of artists like Bjork, Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush with modern elements of Paramore, Joss Stone and Amy Winehouse.
The opening “Sharks” features her swirling, overdubbed vocals amid ominous keyboards and programmed drums; the subsequent “Fool Don’t Be” upshifts into synth-pop, and the four remaining songs range from the symphonic “For Ahimsa” to the soulful, mourning title track. Meresha’s live band The Alien Invasion includes guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, violin and backing vocals to recreate the lunacy.
Meresha’s “Lunatic”
See Meresha and The Alien Invasion at the CD release party for “Lunatic” at 2 p.m. on Saturday at B.B. King’s, 550 S. Rosemary Ave., West Palm Beach (no cover, 561-420-8600).