little lighthouse

Album Review

Singer/songwriters are such a prolific breed it sometimes becomes difficult to separate them from one another. Christene LeDoux shares a number of singer/songwriter qualities, including introspective folk-based music sung with a strong emotional undercurrent. In "Sweet Patty," for instance, a mother offers advice to the young girl she's abandoned, and when the girl grows up and has children and grandchildren of her own, she learns to cherish her mother's wisdom. While this particular song works well thanks to a winning melody, material like this can grow a bit cloying over an entire album. Songs like "Daddy's Café," however, seem to create a portrait that runs closer to Americana, separating LeDoux from other self-absorbed writers. Perhaps it's about her own father, but it doesn't really matter as far as the success of the song goes. It could be about anyone's father, and that gives it a universal quality. LeDoux's cover of "Landslide" is commendable for going its own way, but her adventurous vocal seems to stray too far from the melody line. Unfortunately, the best material of Little Lighthouse is front-loaded, and a similar slow pacing bogs down the last two-thirds of the album. Little Lighthouse shows potential, and on cuts like "The Entertainer," LeDoux shows that she can separate herself from the singer/songwriter pack. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford Jr., All Music Guide