Style: Pop/rock; compare to Brooke Fraser, Michelle Branch, Sara Groves
Top tracks: “Come Close,” “I Love You Anyway”
Her second album may share a title with Carole King’s 1971 album, but that is the only thing Holly Starr’s latest has in common with that bona fide classic. She aims instead for a pop sound that is slick, radio-friendly, and entirely unobtrusive. And it bears the very obvious imprint of having been sweetened with post-production trickery like Auto-Tune. Too, her lyrics skim that line between being paeans to the Lord and straightforward secular love songs. It’s a pleasant enough album, but Starr’s melodies and voice deserve much better than this: something more stripped back, raw, and worshipfully in-your-face.
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