Heather Rigdon - Everything to Me (2014)

Vocalist Heather Rigdon walks a pop-jazz path here, but her work is anything but fluff. In less than thirty minutes, she delivers songs that chronicle the ups and downs of relationships, the natural wonders of day to day existence, and the insecurities and strengths that live within us all.

Almost all of the eight songs that make up this program tend to work around the edges of coupledom in different manners. "And So It Goes," for example, opens the album by chronicling the arc of a relationship with upbeat musical backing. When Rigdon sings, "this ride's about the highs and lows," she gets to the heart of the song and the entire album.

As the program continues, that theme is explored to the fullest. "Carry Me To You" takes a look at the shoes that carry us to our destinies, "Sunday Morning With You" is a simple ode to a day of comfort and connection for couples, and "Wouldn't You Like To Know" finds Rigdon exploring the thoughts that dwell on the mind after the relationship has ended. Then there's the double entendre of "Lying Here With Me," a tale of the girl who follows the one that got away, and the so-near-yet-so-far love tale of "Close." As surface listens, all are pleasant enough, but as stories, each one manages to make a strong impression.

Succinct songs, suppression of instrumental personalities in deference to singer and song, and a short running time make Everything To Me feel a bit more like a well-polished demo than an out-and-out album, but that strategy might be intentional: tell the tales, waste no words, and keep moving on seems to be the three-pronged approach here.

Some tend to sing the same old love songs over and over again but Rigdon doesn't go there. Instead, she delivers songs that peel back the protective-and-pretend thoughts that we all project onto love; she gets to the core of this complex emotion, bringing truth to a topic that's often sugarcoated.