Music Review: Amanda B. Perry, ‘List of Lovers’
The powerhouse Minnesota vocalist and songwriter is back with her most captivating and deftly produced album to date.
Amanda B. Perry’s List of Lovers album artwork.
When Amanda B. Perry walks into a room, heads turn. From the giant hoops of her earrings to her wide and winning smile, she commands rock star attention. Perry’s third studio album, List of Lovers, follows in the footsteps of its iconic maker from the very first note.
List of Lovers is a journey through deep pain and soaring ecstasy. For the first time in all the years of listening to Perry’s lush, rich songs, the production seems to fully match her vocal prowess. The songs have a pop sensibility and drive that make them utterly irresistible.
From the subtle production of the album’s opening track, “I Can’t,” the listener realizes that this is a step up in Amanda B. Perry’s creative game. The pop of the piano dovetails beautifully with the flowing violin lines, and those two instruments rise and fall below Perry’s indescribably powerful voice. There’s a simplicity in orchestration that features the exquisite vocals, yet the surge and waning of those two instruments are the perfect counterpoint. At one moment, Perry’s vocal line falls away to reveal a single held violin note, high and distant. It’s a complete and lovely theatrical moment. A pause that would be at home in a theater full of rapt listeners, allowing them to savor and consider the depth of heartbreak of which Perry sings.
The album ups its aural seduction on the second song “Morning,” where Joe Peterson delightfully weaves the B3 organ in and out of Perry’s vocal excellence and the song’s hypnotic syncopated sway. This is a song of and for the night, a sound that calls to the chase, attraction, and glamor of an evening out on the town.
Amanda B. Perry’s voice is a gift. It’s the unequivocal star of this record, effortlessly conveying a range of emotion on the biggest of stages. From alluring to brokenhearted, all of the facets of a good love story shine through her gifted songwriting and singing. The tracks range from fun and flirty to deep longing, as in the track “Re Find Me,” where Perry’s voice scales mountaintops in search of a love that may very well be lost to the past, over an expertly overblown kick drum that hearkens back to late 90s power ballads.
Amanda B. Perry. Photo credit: TLP.
Perry co-produced this album with River Rock Studio’s illustrious Eric Blomquist. Where Perry’s vocal power and range can command the listener from the lightest whisper to fully soaring belt, Perry and Blomquist have matched the production and arrangement to her wide vocal abilities. On “And So It Goes,” a banjo clucks along with the slide of a slinky fretless bass that would be at home in any 1930s jazz song. The title track’s refinement is only enhanced by this contrast as it supports the velvety lusciousness of Amanda B. Perry’s voice. “List of Lovers” will immediately be your list of favorite new songs that you love.
“I Found You” comes in as if you’ve been searching the radio and at last found exactly the right song. You turn up the dial. The intensity starts high and continues throughout the entire track. The bite of the electric guitar tone finds purchase on the trail up the mountainside, and before you know it, Perry’s vocals are soaring from the peak.
Just like the album began, with spare and orchestral instrumentation, it returns to the delicate combination of cello and piano with the final track “My Old Heart.” The instruments allow Perry’s brilliant, seemingly limitless voice to draw the listener completely and totally in as she laments, “This is me / these days …” It’s a moment that beguiles the listener, devastating us with its skill, power, and laid-bare vulnerability.
With List of Lovers, Amanda B. Perry has evolved yet again. Her use of contrasting tones and timbres to tell the story captivates without compromise. She’s a force to be reckoned with.
List of Lovers comes out November 7th, 2025, celebrated with an album release show on Saturday, November 8th, at Century Oak Studios in Saint Joseph, MN, with The International Treasures opening the show. Tickets are available!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Doyle Turner. Photo credit: no_aesthetic_stills.
Doyle Turner loves words. Whether it is shaping syllables into songs, poems, early morning journals, handwritten thank yous, lists, or album reviews, he is in a deep and abiding relationship with his college-ruled paper, Uniball Signo 207 .7mm pens, and mostly his keyboard. A good day is spent taking pictures, mailing things, making the words convey the precise meaning, driving, and singing.
