Hauntingly beautiful
Absolutely, hauntingly, beautiful. Alison somehow finds a way to merge thought-provoking, totally relatable lyrics with melodies that are out of this world. There's a number of more melancholic songs on the album, but they're balanced out nicely with a few sweeping, spirit-lifting offerings like "You Picked Me", "Come On, Come Out", "Rangers", and so on. A song for every mood. In conclusion, this is a stunning, hypnotic record, and completely worth the price (and it's quite a bargain on here).

Amazing voice and talent
This is simply one of the best talents Ive come across in a while...excellent voice, lyrics and music. I wish artists like this had more of a platform than all the mainstream shallow, talentless stuff has...if youre reading this then you know what I'm talking about. Definately give her album a shot if youre undecided.

4-1/2 stars -- Dive in!
It seems like nowadays when an artist is featured on the VH1 You Oughta Know tour, they eventually turn into the next big thing (ask James Blunt or Sara Bareilles). But one person that didn't really garner any more popularity is Alison Sudol, better known as A Fine Frenzy -- which is also ironic considering her and Sara's respective albums were released on the same day. And Alison's lack of popularity is unfortunate because her album One Cell in the Sea is damn good.

Alison seems to score best with heartbreak tracks, as shown by "Ashes and Wine" and especially the single "Almost Lover". But introspective tracks score as well, like "Whisper", "The Minnow & the Trout" (the song that inspired the album's title) and the metaphoric "Rangers". And "Borrowed Time" closes the album nicely.

Although half a star had to be taken off for "Liar, Liar", One Cell in the Sea proves that Alison deserves a lot more attention than she gets because this musical experience is indeed a fine frenzy. It's not too late to pick it up.

Anthony Rupert

Great Album & Amazing Talent
This is an absolute favorite CD of mine due to its esoteric and captivating melodies, not to mention A Fine Frenzy's vocal talent. The lyrics are beautiful, poetic in their own ways but never to confuse them with convoluted passages. This album and her talent molded well together. I absolutely loved her voice and her music. It's quite a masterpiece in its own respect that I highly recommend it to anyone especially to the dreamer, the poet or the hopeless romantic.

A Fine Debut...
Don't let my three star review fool you, I love this CD. I can listen to it all the way through and only skip one or two songs (quite an accomplishment for me). The lyrics are sweet and poetic; her voice is soft and sultry with a very pretty female falsetto. Unfortunately, she doesn't convince me. She has the vocal capability to reach a level of depth and passion that I just didn't find in this CD. She comes close in Ashes in Wine, one of my favorite tracks. Almost Lover is appropriately sad and (like many, I'm sure) the reason I bought the ablum, The Minnow and the Trout is an awkward but enjoyable stance on social relations, and Rangers finds a subtle Irish background mixed with prosaic lyrics, a good combination, but she sings it with slight lackluster and as pretty as the song is, I'm left a little unsatisfied. The meloncholy feel of the album is the reason I love it, but you can have meloncholy without monotony, and I think she rides a fine line. I truly hope that her follow-up album finds her doing some soul-searching. A voice that pretty is too good to waste on songs it doesn't deeply connect with.