(08 January 2014) It has been said that Cherish Alexander has a magical pen that dips into the dark crevices of the human heart that often haunt us. In 2007 Musical Discoveries and Cherish were brought together by Aeone whose work has been reviewed and a female artist that has interviewed here earlier.

"Songwriting has always been a natural process for me,” reveals Cherish, who has been singing and playing the piano since age seven. Early on, the artist landed a deal with a major label and publishing powerhouse Warner-Chappell, which enabled her to hone her instinctual gift for songwriting and toured natiionally with the Los Angeles based band, 'The Painkillers' after three successful albums.

Cherish has written six successful records and has recorded and toured nationally with many different bands. Her music has been used in TV and film soundtracks like The Crow and she has written and jammed professionally with lots of different artists including playing lead guitar for Cyndi Lauper.

In her first solo album, Fallen Awake (review) Cherish moved on from the harder edged tunes of her earlier work with The Painkillers (Medicine for the Soul (1998), State of Mind (2002)). She drew on strength from her experiences and exposed the raw emotions of her soul through her songs.

Broken Open (Shine Records (US), 2013) is Cherish Alexander's latest offering, a digital release made through iTunes, amazon.com, Spotify and Pandora as well as other outlets. All the songs on this new album were written, produced and played by Cherish Alexander and Paul Roessler. The almost 50-minute album was recorded at Kitten Robot Studios in Los Angeles and was mastered by Dave Donnelly at DNA Mastering in Woodland Hills, CA.<

Thee tracks on Cherish's second solo album again span singer songwriter and pop territory although several rock tracks have been added to the newest collection. Cherish provides outstanding lead vocals and is backed by Paul on the new record. Album opener "Weighting" is an upbeat guitar-driven rocker layered Cherish's silky vocal work.

Cherish delivers a powerful lead vocal to the densely arranged torch ballad "Sandcastles." "Oxytocin," "Loving" and "What Is" are two very gentle ballads, evocatively delivered to drive home the lyrical messages. The crystalline vocal harmonies in "Loving" that appear in the standout chorus and robust electric guitar solo contribute significantly to the strength of this record. The vocally lush "Love and War" is an outstanding acoustic guitar-based singer songwriter-style bookend to the ballads as the album builds towards its midpoint.

The slightly harder edge in the downtempo "Prayer of St Francis" results from production using more processed vocal layers, electric guitar and electric piano. Paul's vocal work stands on its own in the brighter folk-styled duet "Talisman" and adds power to the bluesy "Rabbit Hole."

Cherish's gorgeously evocative vocal is very lightly backed by acoustic guitar in the beginning of "Time Machine." The song's arrangements build in the last third of the song permitting a perfect segue into the more thickly arranged rock number "Patterns." Broken Open closes with Cherish's powerful and crystalline lead vocal atop acoustic guitar and keyboard washes that form the foundation of "Hymn."

Says Cherish, "Today, my greatest aspiration is to bring the realism of life into music through my own experiences of hope, love, betrayal and faith!" Her new album is clearly achieving this goal. Be sure to also check out Cherish's work with Bella Bazarria and their 11 album 13 as well. Cherish Alexander's brand new album Broken Open is an outstanding achievement and was well worth the wait since her last solo outing. Bravo!