Jacqueline

After the first Krezip period ended in 2009, Govaert’s solo debut Good Life arrived in 2010. Alex Callier produced the album, with recording at ICP in Brussels. The project gave a familiar singer another set of musical surroundings.

Overrated makes the new setting easy to hear. Piano, bass and the vocal rhythm give it a buoyant movement, while the performance has enough force to keep the polished arrangement from becoming merely decorative. Big World offers another view of the album’s appetite for a substantial melody.

The pleasure of this material lies partly in the balance. Govaert can supply the scale of a large pop chorus, but her phrasing also makes smaller moments count. A turn in the melody or a short pause can carry as much character as the loudest note.

Good Life is a complete solo album rather than an extended footnote to a previous band. Its production choices give the songs a shared sound, and the singer’s presence makes the transition between musical settings feel natural.

Songs to Soothe followed in 2014, bringing piano writing further forward. The quieter frame makes another aspect of the same performer audible: the ability to let a melody and a sentence develop without filling every space around them.

The two albums work well beside each other. Good Life introduces the fuller solo-pop setting; Songs to Soothe draws attention to the writing and the room around the voice. The connection is a singer who can make either scale feel personal.