Cam Ly – Em Khong The Quen
October 1st, 2009
Cam Ly finally abandons “nhac sen” and returns to what drew me to overseas production in the first place, Minh Vy’s ballads. Her latest release Em Khong The Quen features some spanking new tunes from Minh Vy but with the same old production value as 10 years ago. It’s a good thing because it provides depth and deters from the shallow, cheesy pop songs sung by aphonic 3-named singers nowadays. It’s also a bad thing because it makes Cam Ly sound like an uninspired, blasé housewife desperately in need of hot sex.
Barring 2 tracks, the rest of the album is passable. My favorite is the title track, where she sounds like the good ‘ole Cam Ly at the top of her fame, perhaps due to a tastefully arranged, sweetly executed violin string. In “Cafe Miet Vuon”, she plays the jealous housewife to a tee. Her chemistry with Quoc Dai turns the well versed song into an instant classic of “Giang Cau” caliber.
Em Khong The Quen may not be Cam Ly’s strongest release and offers nothing new. But having Minh Vy at the helm, it still delivers with 1000% more depths than most of the pop albums out there.