New York City native and now Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Ally Bakst is what I call a “lifer”. She has sung since before she could even talk and, when she began applying herself to music in earnest, started composing songs on piano and guitar. The recent USC graduate recently began collaborating with composer and producer Mark Vogel, respected for his work on the iconic television sitcom Full House, and “Mystery Girl” attests to how their chemistry blossomed. They obviously share an intuitive sense of what Bakst’s music needs that’s fully in evidence with this new single.
You hear it from the outset. The first minute of the track focuses more on scene-setting than anything else. Vogel’s production surrounds the opening piano with a light veneer of effects that has a dramatic touch, never overstated, and functions as an excellent prelude to our first encounter with Bakst’s voice. It sounds like it is emerging out of an aural mist and, when it inhabits the song’s center stage, it manifests with utter clarity.
She has a wonderfully elastic vocal instrument. There’s something childlike about her initial lines, but she then scales the singing into the higher end of her range without losing listeners along the way. Transitions are seamless across the board with this track and the vocals are especially so. There’s a theatrical quality in Bakst’s voice, as well, that responds to the lyrical content. She moves from intimacy to assertiveness and back again – attentive listeners will note the under the radar strength of her voice.
She has excellent lyrical content to work with. “Mystery Girl” sets forth its character study in miniature with direct and conversational language eschewing pseudo-poetic flourishes. Intelligence burns from each verse, without question, and I came away from the first listen impressed. Later listens only deepened that feeling. Her command over the pop song structure, in evidence throughout the entirety of “Mystery Girl”, is already developed to such a degree that you may be surprised she’s relatively new to the music world.
I hear that confidence throughout the track. It never wavers. It’s the sound of a musical artist who has a clear idea of what they want from the outset and remains assertive about their ability to deliver on that vision. Some singers work through long careers never quite reaching this point, but Bakst is there now. She capitalizes on the song’s melodic strengths throughout, especially during its refrain, and the percussion accentuates her phrasing while still providing the track with inescapable rhythmic impetus.
This is an excellent introduction to Ally Bakst’s talents. One of the truly memorable aspects of this single is how Bakst sounds like a finished product so early in her career, yet she clearly isn’t. There are even greater accomplishments waiting for her in the future and “Mystery Girl” is the first of many triumphs to come. She’s in full control of the moment and her chief collaborator, producer Mark Vogel, helps her realize this singular achievement. “Mystery Girl” is well worth seeking out.
Jodi Marxbury