Customer Reviews

Almost Chocolate

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first heard SONiA about a year ago, when I purchased the Disappear Fear album "Seed in the Sahara." Though I loved it, I felt the album's later songs didn't quite live up to the immense promise of the first few tracks. I often found myself losing interest and switching albums before Seed's completion.

Not so w/ "Almost Chocolate." SONiA is one of those rare socially oriented singer-songwriters whose politics are so achingly personal that no activist-phobic [...] could ever accuse her of jumping on a soapbox. Like early Tracy Chapman, her musical storytelling has a clarity and simplicity that is utterly engrossing. Also like Tracy, her folk rock sound makes for perfect road music. This album is remarkably cohesive, and each track is distinctive. My personal favorites include the rockin' call for companionship -- "Two Eggs Over Easy" -- and the movingly mellow autobiography "13."

Buy SONiA. Love SONiA. I myself am eager to explore her earlier work. --TIM

If you're hungry, this is the CD for you. Whether it's a breakfast of eggs and oatmeal ("Two Eggs Over Easy") or a desert of chocolate (the feeling you get when you're "Fallin" in love), "Almost Chocolate" will satisfy your appetite for ten glorious tracks from a solo act called SONiA. Not to take away from any of the other SONiA and dissapear fear productions, but this is my absolute favorite from SONiA of/and/or disappear fear.

I just heard SONiA at the Gulf Coast Womyn's Music Festival at Camp Sister Spirit, and was so glad I bought this CD! Now my daughter and I can listen to her music in our car every day on the way to work/school. We love "Two Eggs Over Easy" and "Fallin"--what a phenomenal CD! I love Shawn Colvin, and SONiA's music reminds me of hers. Buy a copy for your mother, sister, friend, or daughter today!

Almost Chocolate may well serve as a departure from Sonia's rockin' days with the boys in the band. Though, having listened to her earlier works including the album Echo My Call, it is in keeping with her singer-songwriter harmonious tradition. This album, tho, is tremendously personal...maybe more so than necessary--its' only flaw. In it she shares personal pain and pride in her trademark fashion, sharing stories of growing up gay, grappling with her past, and charting a new direction for herself as a solo artist. The melodies and guitar work have a maturity to them that is more complex than past albums, even if the lyrics seem simpler. Yet, the songs flow from one to the next like turning pages of a scrapbook, easing the listener along and making this a strong album overall. If you are just discovering the artist or are a seasoned fan, you will find that this album stands on its own and won't be disappointed.

Sonia Rutstein, the creative mind behind Dissapear Fear goes solo this time, leaving behind the many incarnations of her band, to present an album that is not only a collection of truly well-crafted songs, but an experience that needs to be listened to from beginning to end. This is a mature artist!

SONiA of disappear fear sheds her band and is left in the spotlight with only her guitar and her harmonica. - Which is plenty for this very distinct and honest troubadour. The stripped-down sound of this album lets SONiA's voice and lyrics be the senter of attention, and together they combine to send you on a 10-song journey you will never forget. This album includes chilling ballads like "November or Nothing," cheery rock songs like "Two Eggs Over Easy," and more serious folk songs like "on Your Side." SONiA is on her own and thriving!

Fallin is the best song on this album. "I don't know if I'm drunk" either. The lyrics to this song are really cool. I play this song over and over where I work in a kitchen. Two eggs Over Easy is a good song too. Sonia sings in Spanish!!! Way cool!!The lyrics rule on this album. Very powerful words.