Minnie Driver: Seastories (Zoë)

In the interest of full disclosure, it should be said that I quite enjoy Minnie Driver, the actress. When considering this review of her sophomore album, Seastories, I wondered if being a fan of her acting would impair my judgment of Minnie Driver, the singer/songwriter. But as soon as I started listening, I quickly realized that I had nothing to worry about. As it turns out, I am not a fan of the musical Driver at all.

That’s not to say that Seastories is a terrible album or that Driver can’t sing or write songs, because that’s not true. Ultimately, her music is dull. She’s been compared to Beth Orton and Sarah McLachlan, who are both amazing in their own right, but Driver’s music lacks that extra bit of emotion and soul that makes the others shine.

On the other hand, Driver wrote all of the lyrics and nearly all of the music on Seastories, an effort that can only be applauded as it must be hard for well-known actresses to be taken seriously when crossing over into music. The widely admired Ryan Adams makes several appearances on the album, and I can’t help but feel they are a perfect pairing, as I feel that most of his music is as boring as boring gets.

While Minnie Driver has a pretty voice and a strong understanding of music composition, there seems to be a lack of spice missing in the final product. Don’t write Driver off as a singer/songwriter completely, because she’s probably the best of the actor-turned-singer bunch. Her voice has a sultry quality to it that can’t be taught and if it were paired with more interesting arrangements, she may really have something.
(www.minniedriver.com)

By Heidi Antocicco