Helen Sanderson-White

Demo

Play 90 second soundbite of 'Hunger' @ 'CD quality'

This demo was entered into the 2006 Toxic Pete / ffg Studios Demo Competition

Helen Sanderson-White is a singer/songwriter/pianist/vocalist based in London. Her four tracks here; 'Since I Met You (I'm In Chaos)', 'Heal My Heart', 'Hunger' and 'Just One Touch' show a vivacious raw talent and a potential that may one day be realised. Sent on cassette, what this demo lacks in audio quality Helen makes up for in commitment and skill. There's no doubting Helen's abilities as she seems to pour her heart out into the well written ballad-like songs and skilfully exercises her digits across the black and whites with sensitivity and poise.

The direction in which Helen seems to be going is similar to the Carole King thing; big sentimental love songs set against precise, often mournful sounding piano. It's a hard road that she's travelling - it's so difficult for a solo, acoustic artist to really make an impression these days. It's somewhat of a lost art that often gets pushed aside for more the raucous artists. And that's a shame. Helen Sanderson-White's keyboard skills are spot-on. Her songwriting is pretty good but tends to sound a little wordy but that may be down to her very precise renditions - the meter sounds awkward at times. Her vocal technique sounds rather too precise, too Queen's English, and tends to detract from the songs rather than enhance. Don't get me wrong, Helen's got a great, powerful voice but I can't help but feel that she needs to just relax a little and let the emotion of the songs carry the lyrics rather than concentrating so much on enunciation. A more relaxed style may also help with the metering of the songs and make them more believable and accessible. Even the great Ms King let rip you know!!

I'm sure Helen Sanderson-White passed all her grades with flying colours but she needs to get away from trying to impress a board of judges or examiners. Her vocal style, with its precise delivery, is fine for opera and musicals but I think Helen's aiming at a more commercial (wrong word but I hope you get my meaning!) musical marketplace. Helen Sanderson-White's got all the basics, all the essentials - she's a tasty songwriter, a fantastic pianist and has a great voice - she just needs to get the 'cool'!

A - Z Selector

Re-start Site