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"Freedom from Shame," the opening track to Michele Cumming's Peel, harkens back to time of music before disco beats and skinny wannabes dancing their way to chart hits. There's something about the implied hope from despair and strong, yet thoughtful, crescendos with guitars and bass that makes this track and CD stand out from the stack of self-released CDs made by singer-songwriters hoping to make it to the top.

While there's a slight nostalgic feel to the music (there's a guitar and bass bit in "Twisted" that is slightly reminiscent of the instrumental portion from Carole King's "It's Too Late"), Cummings is careful to remember that she's making an album for the new millennium. The subject matter for her songs is introspective and confessional sounding, whether the material is autobiographical or not. The musical arrangements are level headed and focus on her acoustic guitar in the background, with carefully arranged contributions from electric guitar and bass adding spark. The ccompanying instruments are there for a purpose. Mai Bloomfield's cello on "If I," for example, accentuates the song's mood and builds it up to a stronger piece than it might have been
otherwise.

On songs such as the emotional "If I," Cummings' voice seems fragile, as if it might break in a strong breeze, but on other songs, such as "Shop Keeper," the follow up to "If I," while her voice isn't loud and raucous, she's strong and confrontational towards the prejudiced shop keeper she's addressing. It's as if her voice is representative of Cummings herself. She may come across as shy and fragile initially, but there's a fireball inside just waiting to be released. That image relates to the album's title and the CD booklet's cover photography showing an onion and its layers. Peel off a layer, and what do you uncover? Cummings is a bit of an onion girl herself, with multitudes of layers waiting to be found.

Granted, there are weak songs on the album. The middle portion droops a little in terms of song-writing strength, but that's to be expected with a relatively new artist still finding her way. The best songs evoke a dreamlike reality, as in the short closing track, "Over Her." The simple melody Cummings sings along to acoustic guitar and cello has the pacing of a much older song, perhaps one sung to lute and virginal. Peel shows an artist with a lot of growth to demonstrate and reveal on future releases.