musicaustin.com

In a market normally dominated by men, Austin has been treated to several new and very good female vocalists and songwriters of late. Cheryl Bliss is a prime example.

She came here from San Diego with a released CD already to her credit, and released The Sweet Soul Light in Austin. She has a sweet voice that can be angelic in tone and would sound good in the ballad-mode favored by sweet-voiced singers like Emmy Lou Harris. She does a couple of tunes like that on The Sweet Soul Light. But that is not the extent of her songwriting or singing style. She can growl out a rock number or roam into the ethereal stratosphere with soaring space-age effects and vocals.

The arrangements used to show off her songs are very modern and reflect the influence of a pop culture where DJs and sound engineers can create just about anything in terms of sound and make it part of a piece of music. To her credit, she's pushing the envelope with some of the tunes instead of playing it safe inside the standard pop boundaries.

Many listeners have singled out the tender "Sleep Well Tonight" as the outstanding tune from the CD, but I particularly liked the take-no-prisoners attitude of "Every Girl's Got" and the far out romp of "Ultrabrite."