Lamya: Learning From Falling : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Whenever she lets her imagination loose into one sumptuous minisymphony of a pop song, twenty-eight-year-old singer and Clive Davis protegee Lamya sounds like Kate Bush, Tori Amos and Bjork rolled into one trans-Atlantic package. The epic "Empires," with its intro of ominous timpani, whispered vocal interlude and lyrics that speak of warriors, mountains and spiritual preachers, is dazzling. Tunes such as the more formulaic but undeniably catchy "Never Enough" betray Lamya's desire to conquer the mainstream, to hold the global airwaves hostage to her feline choruses and hip alt-rock underpinnings. You're left pining for more of her delicious weirdness, more sitar solos, more of her trombone playing and Swahili lyrics. Let's hope this larger-than-life debut is merely the first step of a fruitful, idiosyncratic career.

ERNESTO LECHNER
(RS 902 - August 8, 2002)