Local artist puts out bright new album

Emily Rodgers

Bright Day

Misra Records

Rocks like: 2,009 Maniacs

Bright Day

Misra Records

Rocks like: 2,009 Maniacs

Grade: B+

If you adhere to the belief that pop culture operates in 20-year cycles, then an artist such as Pittsburgh’s Emily Rodgers arrived right on schedule.

With her shoegaze-esque guitar melodies and ethereal vocals, it’s almost difficult to believe Bright Day isn’t an album that was shelved in 1991 and just released within the last year.

Her first album on Misra Records, the California label that is home to indie folk stalwarts such as Shearwater and Great Lake Swimmers, Bright Day manages to hit on nearly every early ’90s female vocalist touchstone to such an extent that it’s likely that Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You” could have slipped in somewhere among the album’s eight tracks and gone unnoticed.

However, peeling away the layers of dreamy production values and haunting vocal effects reveals an obviously talented musician and songwriter.

Songs such as “Hurricane” and opener “In Spring Alchemy” are a testament to her ability to combine heart-wrenching, melancholic lyrics with lush guitar work.

“Hurricane” contrasts the devastation left in the wake of a storm to that of a failed relationship, and opener “In Spring Alchemy” contains a dulcet guitar line that gives way to Rodgers’ query, “Without words what do we have?”

For an album that doesn’t even reach the 40-minute mark, Bright Day’s most glaring flaw, ironically, is that it feels overlong — particularly in tracks where Rodgers seems to be performing as a photocopy of Natalie Merchant rather than simply being influenced by her.

This issue wasn’t as present on her previous album, 2005’s Emily Rodgers & Her Majesty’s Stars, which utilized a more conventional folk sound.

While undoubtedly a fine and admirable album, the challenge that Bright Day presents for Rodgers’ future work is preserving her originality while remaining true to her influences.