Sienna Spiro called in a battalion of musicians to set the tone for “He’s Not My Baby, I’m His,” which comes midway into her debut album, Visitor. There are trumpet players and a keyboardist and three different guitarists. Two people are on saxophone and another two on trombone, plus three more on bass, four on cello, and nearly a dozen violinists. There are more of them than there are years Spiro has been alive. But her voice is at the center of it all.
The 20-year-old artist fills Visitor with influences from the all-time greats — like Frank and Nina and Etta. She records like they did, cutting most tracks in a single take with all the instrumentalists in the same room. There are easier ways to do things these days; computers and plug-ins could capture these sounds much quicker. But they wouldn’t have the same presence or immediacy Spiro captures on this record.
The opening track, “This Is My House,” begins with a sample of Nikki Giovanni’s 1975 poem “My House.” Midway through the song, there are subtle cracks and breaks in Spiro’s voice. You can hear the sharp rasp in her tone as she agonizes over wanting to feel safe and seen on “Stole the Show.” These moments forgo traditional pop polish in favor of imperfection to give Visitor a tangible edge. She sings with an intensity that shows how emotionally invested she is in the stories she’s sharing. The anger and the sadness and the cynicism is what she uses to fuel these performances — the best of which appears on the standout “Great Expectations.”
The true constant on the album is that Spiro sounds beautiful. She showed up to sing and does so as if these melodies can lift the weight of her emotions. She consistently mulls over what it’s like to feel disconnected from her body and how unrequited feelings shaped her perception of impermanence in life and love. But Spiro often stops just short of fully allowing her writing to match the fervor in her voice. It’s just a matter of finding the right words and resisting the urge to undercut them when they begin to feel too vulnerable.
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She delivers a distinguishing performance on the string-backed piano ballad “We’re Not In Love,” which takes advantage of her full range. It builds at a steady pace, then falters at the bridge as she sings, “You go down while I’m up in my head/And you left after I got undressed and that’s/That’s unbelievable/You’re unbelievable.” This happens again on “Pure,” an admirably raw record that drops the production style that makes the rest of the record sound reminiscent of the jazz club performances Spiro frequents. Bolstered by electric guitars, there’s a newfound clarity in her voice.
After three minutes of pouring her heart out about her deepest insecurities and the lingering implications of growing up too fast, Spiro concedes, “I don’t know the meaning of anything in this song.” The line sells her short.
As her debut album, Visitor is tasked with introducing Spiro to her audience, which rapidly expanded with the success of her breakout single “Die on This Hill.” The person you hear across the record is as perceptive and sensitive as she is cerebral. These instances suggest she might not fully trust her own potential yet.
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But there’s clearly a lot she’s still unpacking. “Stroking my hair to stoke my ego,” Spiro sings on the jazzy highlight “He’s Not My Baby, I’m His,” about her entanglement with a man twice her age. “And no one feels quite as seen as when a child gets chosen.” It’s the most cutting line on the song. There’s no false play of maturity. She never shifts the blame from the older man who should have known better. It’s a glimpse into how well Spiro can play into her candor and courageousness when she isn’t holding back.
The album is executive produced by Omar Fedi (Yungblud, Machine Gun Kelly, Lil Nas X), with Spiro bringing only a few co-writers into the fold. The 10 songs they created together are solid efforts carried by intimate instrumental arrangements and her distinctive tone. But at this point in her career, Spiro could greatly benefit from having collaborators who can urge her to push past the boundaries that hold her just out of reach on Visitor.