SEVEN DAYS TO CONQUER

The Motor Citys loss is the Big Apples gain. Julie Kovich's first CD, Wyatt's Torch, was a well received effort on the Detroit music scene. And now, Julie has relocated to New York City where the finishing touches have been put on her much anticipated second CD, Seven Days to Conquer.

Julie Kovich does nothing halfway, and Seven Days to Conquer proves that point emphatically. Produced by Michael King and accompanied by her band, she is fabulous on songs like Seven Days to Conquer, Blow the House Down and Rocket to the Sun. She is exceptional when she is at one and intimate with her piano alone on songs like Daybreak, Wish for Anything and
Stow Away These Virtues.

My first encounter with Julie Kovich was when she was known around the Detroit music scene as Julie Genevis. She called me out of the blue and asked me if I would listen to her first CD, Wyatt's Torch. Always enthused to learn that another voice from my fair hometown is taking a stab at making real honest to gosh music that doesn't involve a formula, I welcomed the chance to hear Julie's music.

I was flattered to learn that I was one of the first writers in the area to be introduced to the magic that is Julie's music, and when I sat down to
listen to Wyatt's Torch I couldn't help but ask myself why instant success falls into the lap of someone like Courtney Love, who wears agony, ecstasy and a voice that is about as appealing as fingernails screeching across a chalkboard like a merit badge while someone like Julie Kovich remains undiscovered and unsigned to a major label. I know life isn't fair and I know that there's a place in the music business for everyone with something to say, even the Courtney Loves, but when will the scales finally tip in the opposite direction? When will someone with a formal music education and true musical talent get a chance to shine? While so many are immersed under the notion that having angst to grind and a bitch to pitch is the only way to be heard, Julie Kovich's music is centered, focused, sophisticated and intelligent. What a concept.

These days Julie calls New York City home. I know this because Julie called me a few weeks ago to tell me that she had just finished her second CD, Seven Days to Conquer. And on this mundane and sunless autumn Detroit
day, I've settled in with Seven Days to Conquer and I am here to tell you that this artist has only gotten better since the days of Wyatt's Torch. Today, Julie Genevis is Julie Kovich. Today, Julie Kovich is working hard and playing hard in New York. Seven Days to Conquer is proof positive that those who pursue their craft for the love of song and art make the music that people will still be talking about in the years to come.

Where Wyatt's Torch only scratched the surface of what Julie Kovich's sound is all about, Seven Days to Conquer is her affirmation, her declaration and her exclamation. The CD's title cut is by far its most enigmatic, with lines like, (..And then it hits me, my soul the gypsy, all
tied in knots my thoughts awry. Where did it come from, this feeling of woe, I try to stop it, it just won't go. And it takes seven days to conquer the emotional blow..) Or consider the determination so obvious on a song like Blow the House Down. (..Trapped inside a straw house much devoid of light, Mr. Fear he slams the door and then he says good-night. But I simply
blow the house down, exit into the noon-time light..) This theme plays over and over again successfully. When you listen to Hold Back the Dawning you're first inspired and then you're convinced. (..My spirits longing, it sleeps today. Trapped in the groove of some reality should have been ash and dust so long ago. The rebirth of an age old soul, struggling now to come to life..) But perhaps Julie Kovich is at the top of her game when she is at one with her piano, intimate and inspired on tender, thoughtful ballads like the sentimentality that carries songs like Daybreak, (..Why did I sleep so soundly, why did my pillow hide the truth, why did I disregard the evidence, that night will soon pass as will my youth...) or the gentle pause to reflect on a song like Stow Away These Virtues, (..It may be best to stow away these virtues, that long ago encased my soul like some dried up dead cocoon, No longer safe inside these walls of virtue, my metamorphosis is long overdue..)

There's no such thing as giving up in a Julie Kovich composition, and she just might be the key ingredient that is missing from so much women's music today that could be more life-affirming if only it weren't for all of those sad endings. Kovich's style is a pleasant mix of carefully crafted pop with a twist of genuine heart and soul. There are songs here that could easily end up remixed for the dance clubs, and left as is, they are simply fantastic. Her ballads rival anything that her contemporaries are singing about today, and pride in her work is all over every track. Take everything you know and feel about your life and let it all merge with the music that works on Seven Days to Conquer. You'll wonder what took you so long to discover Julie Kovich. Believe the hype, embrace the hoopla. Get yourself a copy of Seven Days to Conquer and find out why Detroit is missing Julie's presence so much and why New York is so lucky to have her all to themselves.

-Cheryl Morgan

For more information on the new album, write to Julie Kovich here.

To purchase CD's, click here.

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