This week, I’m reviewing The Spirit Room by Michelle Branch. The Spirit Room came
out in 2001 and is a pop album. This album is a landmark for 2000’s girl pop. You know I’m
talking big names like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Avril Lavigne. Michelle Branch
dropped this album as her debut, and now it’s pop culture history. I would consider this album to
be underrated for that niche sub genre of early 2000s girl pop. While popular in its day, I don’t
hear many people discussing this album now. It reached
double platinum and sold 68,000 copies in its first week.
Michelle herself recorded guitar, keyboard, and vocals for
this album. The cover art was shot at an electrical
substation in Cali.
The Spirit Room combines incredibly melodic
guitar with really catchy vocal melodies. Michelle’s voice
is so light and sweet on the album. There are lots of
electronic noises featured in the background of some
songs that sound cool. In a lot of tracks, such as You Set
Me Free, there is a cool layered effect on her vocals. I
love the overall production of the album, I can’t imagine
what it would be like without it. Something To Sleep To
‘s autotune was kind of bad though. This album I would consider pretty front-heavy. I didn’t
straight up dislike any of the songs (other than the aforementioned, Something to Sleep to), but
I just enjoyed the songs at the front of the album more. Her ballads didn’t hit where I think they
meant to. One of my favorite songs on the album however, If Only She Knew is closer to the
back.
This album just sounds so nostalgic. I remember when this stuff was what was in. This
album was very good! I would love it on CD now. One negative though, is that I have heard
similar things. But this is one of my favorite albums with this unique pop sound. I usually don’t
dig pop but this era of it is pretty good. The Spirit Room gets a 7.5/10. I rate it this because it’s
not the most original, but it does its job of being the best for this genre.