Damhnait Doyle - Hyperdramatic (2000)

Newfoundland-bred Damhnait Doyle's 2000 release, Hyperdramatic, finds the classically trained adult contemporary singer toying with various styles, with mixed results. The disc starts off with the mid-tempo rocker "Maybe It's You" before easing into the soulful, lightly rocking "So Well." Elsewhere, Doyle takes a run at hip-hop breakbeats ("Learn to Crawl") while strings colour "Maybe a Son." All but one of these 11 tracks find Doyle opposite a collaborator--among them Odds singer-guitarist Craig Northey and one-time MuchMusic VJ and Alannah Myles Svengali Christopher Ward--which, while explaining the breadth of the disc, doesn't make enduring its low points any easier. --Chuck Molgat