Erin Boheme: What Love Is

Erin Boheme is 19, blonde and stunningly beautiful. She seems fixated on becoming a cooing Marilyn Monroe or Diana Dors doppelganger as she tries valiantly to hug the tricky, too-mature curves of “Let’s Do It,” “Teach Me Tonight” and an awkwardly updated “I Love Being Here With You.” The album’s intended showpiece is “One Night With Frank,” a Boheme original that’s meant to creatively salute Sinatra by weaving several of his song titles through the sappy lyric, but instead comes off like amateur stargazing.

Ironically, the best number on Boheme’s 11-track debut is a self-penned ditty called “Don’t Be Something You Ain’t.” It’s a lesson Boheme, an unquestionably promising, Brenda Russell-esque pop singer with solid soul underpinnings, should definitely take to heart before reentering the studio.

Originally Published May 1, 2006