Scabaret - Hothouse Flower (2022)

It’s cabaret and beyond for the modern world: Octave Records is proud to announce the release of Hothouse Flower by Scabaret, three multitalented women who combine impassioned vocals, virtuoso piano and viola playing and a variety of diverse musical influences, to create an album of modern cabaret pop. Vocalist Hannah Jackson can soar to operatic heights, as on “Casualty,” or invite listeners into an intimate emotional world, from the dramatic “Scabaret” to the pensive “Life at Lightning Speed,” and its reflections on the transitory nature of being. In fact, Jackson was a contestant on the TV show The X Factor. Songwriter Amy Faris is stunning on acoustic and electric pianos, synthesizers and other instruments. Violist Kimberly Sparr has performed with numerous symphony orchestras and in solo, chamber music and orchestral settings. The result is a blend of jazz, classical, theater, pop and other uncategorizable influences, with a stylistic and sonic range that is captured with sonic depth, nuance and detail. The women of Scabaret are not afraid to wear their hearts on their sleeves, or delve into the complications and difficulties of relationships and life, as “Life at Lightning Speed” notes: “Wanna try every door before I go/Wanna say yes to every dance and never leave an ‘I love you’ to chance.” There’s plenty of humor, laced in lyrics like: “I am much better on paper/And you are much better off if I stay here” from “Better On Paper,” a song that mixes lush electronic keyboards, Kimberly’s viola punctuations, and the recorded sounds of a clacking typewriter and ripping paper.