NYC-based artist Deni Bonet has arranged and played violin for a long list of notable musicians, including Sarah McLachlan, R.E.M., and Cyndi Lauper. Her prolific career is well deserved—she handles the instrument very well and, here, puts the most emphasis on it. The pattern, evidenced in “Girl Lover,” “Get On With It,” and “Wait And See,” is that the violin gets the most dynamic riffs and the most distinguished sound.
On the other hand, Bonet’s own songwriting leaves something to be desired. The chief personality of It’s All Good comes off as a more mature Taylor Swift. She sings in an accusatory tone that seems a little too weak to be as biting as it should be about men who don’t notice her. In “One In A Million” (which is, coincidentally, one of a million songs that sound exactly like it), she complains, “I’m one in a million girls/Why am I not your type?”
And sadly, thanks to the prevailing sound of flatness, it’s unlikely that Bonet’s repeated cries for attention will be heard. Her voice is a bit nasally, and in less ambitious melodies like “Please Please Me” and “The Glory Of Love,” it actually doesn’t sound half bad. However, she seems to be overexerting herself and consequently the attempts at being fun and foxy, for the most part, fail. Even as she yells, “I wanna be loud/I wanna be obnoxious” in “Loud,” she sounds strangely held back.
“Girl Party” features a brief appearance by Fred Schneider of The B-52s, but eschews the new-age weirdness that his voice has come to symbolize and instead makes limp shout-outs to Bonet’s girlfriends, alcoholic beverages, and a little tongue-in-cheek reference to getting high. It’s all in good fun, but I just prefer my own Girl Parties to have more punch.
In A Word: Flimsy
