Amy Studt – Chasing The Light

In the fleeting winds of change and trends, the name of the feral, searching muso Amy Studt (that was blowing around freely in 2003 stopping for three top twenty singles), has probably been buried under the avalanches of KT Tunstall, Kate Nash and Amy Winehouse.

Her name will not, on this evidence take long to float back into people’s thoughts.

This is due, in no small part, to the fact that Amy Studt has selected her most piercing, frantic and delving snippet of her current mindset, ‘Chasing The Light’ to burst back into recognition – giving her second album, My Paper Made Men (released 28/04/08) a welcome push in the process.

Vocal elasticity is both prevalent and striking, as the range flits from a slow Rachel Yamagata/Kathryn Williams lucid beginning, before making a striking and gripping climb to an Amy Lee (Evanescence) pitch. It is an impact that is helped along by adept percussive versatility that creates a ladder for the vocals to clamber up.

This song, rather like Amy’s career so far (after the debut album release she shunned the limelight for a while and went to serve coffee for a living), acts as both a beacon and a warning. The vocal tones and lyrics highlights the strength of hope and its pitfalls, but one thing is made clear:

“Don’t go through life with eyes wide shut.”

There is certainly a renewed vigour to Amy Studt, and the early signs are there to suggest that she has found a great way to channel it.