Abby Millon didn’t just stumble into music. From the opening chords of any of her songs, Millon has a tendency to shine sincerity and honesty with immediate recognition. You can just hear it, and most of her fans likely can as well. It’s in the voice, in the guitar play, and her entire aesthetic. Abby Millon recently released her debut album ‘The Dive,’ onto the mega-popular iTunes and the niche though wildly effective CdBaby.
On her debut album, Millon isn’t reinventing the wheel of the kind of music you expect to come out of a 16 year old High School girl. Not that this is in poor taste. Millon stands on her own for a few select reasons, none of them relying on being unique and different from her peers. Millon’s success and charm is dependent on her ability to cover almost all aspects of her music with such professionalism and cleanness. Lyrical tropes such as teenage love litter her songs, yet they are never too cheesy to not be taken seriously, and not too silly to be ignored.
I think the sincerity arises from her willingness to express herself without resorting to clichés. There is also an obvious effort to not really care about what people think. This typical fallacy plagues many artists. Abby Millon seems to make songs because she cares about what she has to say and less because she wants to reach a lowest common denominator.
Abby Millon began playing guitar at 7, and was fortunate enough to have a father already involved in music (playing bass) and an Uncle with the means to record her debut album. Her original songs just grew from a natural extension of her playing, as she notes she just began making up songs and singing them to her parents.
Millon seems almost admirably self-aware. She understands she is her own worst critic. She understands the desire to share her music without selling her soul. Her talent is limitless, unbounded, only constrained by her willingness to explore what she can accomplish with a melodically infused voice and a well-tuned guitar.
The stars are aligning, as if it was all meant to be. As I see the circumstances around Abby Millon, and her already natural tendency to play music with honesty and integrity, and her pure talent, I see an idealistic pre-destiny. Is Abby Millon meant to be a star? Is she meant to play music that touches those she loves? Is this a precursor to something much different and maybe better? Is she meant to become a mainstream pop sensation? Time will tell, but something tells me that with her perfect storm of surroundings, she can truly be whatever she wants.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-dive/id472256448
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/abbymillon
