By Jane McDonald
Zoe Berman cuts an impactful first gaze when starting her Head Room Session recording. She is young, tall and slim — her lovely face framed by wild brown curls. She is dressed in a romantic Ann Wilson-approved crushed velvet red top, offset perfectly by her red lip shade and keyboard. She opens with Island Time, which she wrote driving through Wyoming on I-25 and is a nearly perfect road trip tune. Upbeat and catchy, she flexes her vocal talents moving from a rich jazzy croon to an emotion filled growl. The audience is tapping their feet by the end of the keyboard accompanied song.
Photo By KT Langley
Her second track titled Something Better has the feel of an early 1970’s Stevie Wonder tune with use of a xylophone effect and opening ivory tickles that draw the listener in. The topic is heartbreak, but with a hopeful message of bigger better things in the future. A different sound that her first track, she is still in the realm of jazz and soul, which is about to change with her final indie-folk song. She shifts from keyboard to acoustic guitar, and from relatively light topic matter into the overtly political. Age of The Sherbert Man is Zoe’s unapologetic take on life in the Trump-era and similar to many of the headlines these days, the song is humorously disturbing. “Who needs trees, we’ll just breathe in our complacency,” is just one example of her clever and confronting songwriting in this track.
With a voice similar to Norah Jones and style like that of Sara Bareilles , Zoe’s ability to play with music genres and types of songwriting will no doubt take her far. You can experience her many talents at the Red Rocks Locals Set on January 25th, as well as many other venues across the front range in the New Year.