Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

After a dozen years recording and performing under name Jeni Varnadeau, the singer signals a new era in her musical career by relocating from Nashville to Los Angeles and launching a pop career under a new name. The new guitar-driven pop sound suits her and it's immediately evident that some things don't change! Alexa's crystal clear voice continues to dazzle with its power and passion. With so much songwriting experience under her belt, it's no surprise that this new collection of songs is well crafted and stylishly produced. Original material mixes with well chosen songs that reflect Alexa's thoughts and feelings. The songs look at different aspects of relationships and the need to explore more deeply the soulful space we occupy with each other and the opening and closing songs of the album reflect the two sides of this coin. The opening "You Are That To Me" celebrates the lovely feeling of being accepted and loved whilst the closing "Better Than Losing You" recognises the need to work hard at love. There are plenty of highlights here from the jaunty "I Wanna Be The One" to the realisation on "More Than More" that even with all the gadgets in the world, conspicuous materialism only leaves the consumer feeling empty. There's a breadth of material on the album which will inevitably find a broad audience but for me, I think I like this best when she's going in an edgier direction on a song like "I Don't Wanna Love You".

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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