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Yet this does not mar the sheer beauty of her voice, which is at once delicate and dizzying ( She Can’t Feel Anything Anymore) and ominous (Our Revenge). On ‘Harbinger’, Cole is vocally restrained compared to later projects, but this is understandable for a new artist probably feeling some pressure to remain accessible and finding her legs.
![paula cole peter gabriel in your eyes paula cole peter gabriel in your eyes](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e2/3c/a6/e23ca6f3a1befa18fe59f6a9ac8928c2.jpg)
![paula cole peter gabriel in your eyes paula cole peter gabriel in your eyes](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41p28RSgL+L.jpg)
Cole’s vocals are the real showstopper though and transcend anything she sings to new heights. Dreamy synths are backed by a rock band on the single-worthy Saturn Girl, which demonstrated Cole’s capacity for accessible material, while strings are employed to dramatic effect on the likes of Chiaroscuro and Our Revenge. The album itself is a lush and nuanced work and Killen’s production is dynamic throughout. That said, Cole is at times naïve in her assessments of human kind, and a song like Black Boots, while obviously meaningful to the Cole of that time, does come off as rather self-indulgent. Often touching on her small-town experiences growing up, Cole’s lyrics are a poignant reflection of interpersonal dynamics ( Bethlehem, Happy Home) and the darker sides of humanity ( Hitler’s Brothers).Īlready, Cole was demonstrating her fearlessness in telling things as they were and foreshadowed her plunge into themes of social justice and inequality on her later records. Like it’s stark album cover depicting a huddled Cole in a too-big trench coat (this is the better known cover anyway – there were two), ‘Harbinger’ is an album of shadow, introspection, and emotional catharsis. ‘Harbinger’ was truly a departure from Cole’s jazz studies although remnants of her training would emerge briefly in song structures. Killen had had a hand in many a great record (and continues to), and was a good fit for the restless and introspective Cole. While Cole wanted to produce her own album from the get-go, the record label felt it better for her to work alongside someone more ‘experienced’ and the reigns were handed to Kevin Killen. Cole took the plunge, and in 1993 signed with Imago records to begin recording her debut album. Cole found herself at a crossroads: a record contract with a jazz label or pursue her own craft and musical vision. However, studying the works of great composers like Gershwin was paralleled by Cole’s own burgeoning songwriting. After surviving the angst of adolescence and high school, Cole followed her musical dreams to the Berklee College of Music studying jazz singing and improvisation. Cole’s family were musical, her father playing in a polka band and family sing alongs encouraged. Growing up in the small town of Rockport, Massachusetts, Paula Cole was the youngest daughter of a elementary school teacher and a scientist. 2014 marks the 20 year anniversary of Cole’s debut album ‘Harbinger’, and with this milestone comes a much deserved look at the body of work that Cole has crafted. Where her contemporaries have often chosen to play it safe (Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow) rather than tip the applecart, Cole has proven herself a true successor to the likes of Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, and Kate Bush in her willingness to eschew convention for creative growth. Over the course of her 20 years in the music industry Cole has followed her muse before all else. While her ambitious creativity was rarely met with commercial success ( Where Have All the Cowboys Gone and I Don’t Want to Wait remain her sole Top 10 singles in the States), Cole is an artist in the truest sense. And of course, we can’t forget that this is the woman whose voice opened up every episode of the 90s cultural phenomenon (might be a bit strong a word, but it was certainly popular) that was Dawson’s Creek. Every biography mentions her association with the Lilith Fair festivals, that zeitgeist of 90s new wave feminism that faded as quickly as it came (attempts to re-create the Lilith Fair hype only a few years ago fell embarrassingly limp). It would be easy to describe Paula Cole as ‘just another 90s singer-songwriter’.