Onomatopea

This debut from Italian duo Delia Lyn and Andrea Pietropaolo starts out on an optimistic note, with the vocals of Lyn right away jumping to the forefront. The opener "Timeless Moment" is a jazzy, chilled out, smooth effort and Lyn's playful and striking Björk-ish qualities are set atop myriad instruments, including the ever popular Hawaiian nose flute, in a pleasant way. After a few songs, however, this pleasantness morphs into something else, and by the middle of the 11 songs what started out as a lively and whimsical sound ends up heading down the unfortunate path to schmaltzville. It took me a few listens to peg what spurred this feeling, and then it hit during "You're So Wild," a little number about love that sounds like our Delia could really be Debbie Gibson in disguise. It's difficult to place exactly what doesn't work here, kind of like the audio equivalent of Daylight Savings Time: something just feels off. It seems as if the music doesn't quite mesh with her pixie-like vocal style. Pietropaolo's hearty six-string bass and keyboards would be more at home in a jazz project than on a world/pop album, while her quirky pop-oriented vocals would suit more lush and ethereal arrangements.