Artist: Ina Forsman
Album: Been Meaning To Tell You
Label: Ruf Records
Release Date: 1.25.2019
This is a twelve-track release from a young blueslady from Finland. Forsman has a significant and growing fan base across Europe, where she is in steady demand as a live act at gigs and festivals. Been Meaning To Tell You in many ways captures the essence of her powerful live performances and has a striking central rock-influenced beat that at times means the overall effect of the album can become blurred at the edges—what might be expected from Ruf, the German label which has made a name for itself in Europe and beyond as a purveyor of hard-hitting neo-rock and blues music.
Forsman, to be fair, manages to buck the label’s usual trend at times with a slower tempo’d touch and a more relaxed breathy vocal delivery that may well prove to be the strongest parts of the album, the highlights that take you with her on the ride. With every track written by Forsman herself, there is ample opportunity to feature her lyrical strength and ability. Backing instrumentation is adequate throughout, but nothing is breathtaking, though there is some fine keyboard work and understated fretwork shining through.
Forsman has a voice that can be delightful at times, with shades of nuanced light jazz and rippling R&B in the mix. When needed, she pitches a curveball with some roaring, muscular rhythms and power. Overall, this is an album that has merits but sadly is unlikely to set the world on fire, making it like many others of its ilk: nice, but nothing special.
—Iain Patience
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