Caroline Vinciguerra: Bored and Gorgeous

Before picking up a guitar last year and heading into Blacklodge Studios, Caroline Vinciguerra was a down-on-her-luck actress whose on-screen highlight came in 1993 when she played Brooke Shields’s sister in the made-for-TV stalker flick I Can Make You Love Me. Bored and Gorgeous, a promising five-song debut, is the result of her defection from screen to microphone and collaboration with Ed Rose, the producer of the Get Up Kids album Guilt Show. The title track opens with a raunchy guitar riff that leaves the listener expecting an in-your-face statement of intent before sliding into a predictable mid-tempo acoustic rock ballad that pretty much defines the rest of the EP’s heartfelt yet non-challenging songs. When she sings “I need to bite your blood red cheek / And squeeze your neck so hard you squeak” on “Smash”, a tune about a bitter end to sweet romance, you really want to believe her. But although Vinciguerra has a strong, melodious voice, sadly she lacks the emotional intensity of, say, Amy Rigby on this track. Nevertheless, the highlight here, , a mellower affair, has Vinciguerra’s plaintive, lilting voice swooping over a finely plucked bass guitar that indicates there may be a bright future waiting for this acoustic singer-songwriter down the line.