Amazon.co.uk Review
A pair of up-tempo, minor-key tunes kicks off this home-grown diva's debut CD. The catchy opener, "It Feels So Good", recalls both 1980s freestyle and Cher's wildly successful hit single "Believe". The next track, "I Put a Spell on You", is "inspired by" (as the CD's sleeve puts it) Screamin' Jay Hawkins's classic R&B gem of the same name, though the new version has none of the 1956 original's over-the-top sense of absurdity and abandon. Sonique's "Spell" is a lean machine fuelled by a disco bass throb, festooned with strings, and graced by Sonique's stylish vocals.
Hear My Cry covers a lot of dance territory, from the dressed-up funk of "Are You Ready?" to the techno-tinged house of "Love Is on Our Side". The album also includes an R&B slow jam ("Drama"), gloomy trip-hop ("Empty [Hideaway]"), and a piano ballad ("Learn to Forget"). A fair amount of the disc's tracks are pedestrian, but what makes just about any of them worth checking out is Sonique's distinctive voice, an instrument with an unusual grain to it.
--Fred Cisterna
CD Description
In the inner flap of her debut LP, HEAR MY CRY, the imposing-looking Sonique strikes a ferocious pose. She also refers to herself with the oft-overused tag "diva" in the acknowledgments. This posturing could conjure up musical visions ranging anywhere from Mariah to Me'Shell N'Degeo'Cello. In reality, Sonique's music has more in common with sounds pumping from mid-'80s nightclubs of the Frankie Goes to Hollywood variety, while her voice is most reminiscent of that of Jimi Somerville of Bronski Beat fame.
The tinge of cold impersonality in the music is more than made up for by catchy grooves and Sonique's impassioned vocals. The opening track, "It Feels So Good", is marked by the type of hook that bears cross-genre appeal. While a cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' signature "I Put a Spell on You" could seem horrific in this forum, she rekindles the song's inherent sinister sensuality and lays it upon some sweet-spiraling electronic hypnotics. Even the familiar anthemic feel of "Are You Ready" and the straight-R&B battle of the sexes of "Drama" are imbued with herspecial spark, one that elevates them to a level far above that of standard fare.