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A Girl Called Eddy: A Girl Called Eddy

Johnny Black, MOJO, July 2004

ERIN MORAN, for she is the Girl whose record label likes to call her Eddy, writes and sings as if she has nothing to prove. Every track on this mouth-wateringly luscious CD whispers, "This is what I do, love it or leave it." Her songs, steeped in '60s classicism, make almost no concessions to the intervening 40 years, aside from the tasteful inclusion of a few subtle electronic textures and ambiences here and there. When, in the debut single, 'Somebody Hurt You', she suffers exquisitely on behalf of every broken-hearted lover everywhere, it's as if Britney, Whitney, Mariah, Shania and all the rest never existed, because Moran treats her melodies with respect rather than as launching pads from which to deviate on the flimsiest of whims. She knows that emotion doesn't consist entirely of vocal callisthenics, and that sometimes resignation and understatement can be shatteringly powerful.

Total word count of piece: 461

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