No Longer a Lone Wolf

When Cosign Magazine last left Rania Khoury, she was an up and coming solo singer songwriter with flair of her own; but a lot has changed. The originality is still present, but no longer does she sound so alone. On her debut album *Stone Wolf*, Rania proves that her and her band play by a set of rules long forgotten in music. Every song is crafted and arranged with a hint of maturity not seen in young songwriters. Especially ones not used to performing with a full band like Rania. Thanks to some stellar musicianship and production work, a song like “Stone Wolf” jumps the album off with a rocking start. From there Rania shifts gears plenty of times, and pulls at every emotional chord she can with her tone and words. With the passion she sings it with, the meaning can be felt with the two part “My Muse, Don’t Go”, just as much as her sense humor shines on the Billy Joelish sounding Sweet Apple Pie (personal favorite). The entire album is put together with the same thought process as each song it seemed, with none of the ten songs feeling like a filler. The overall sound of the album harkens back to the early days of soul music, when artists were just trying to find themselves. There are parts when Rania’s very unique voice is lost in indecisiveness, as she finds exactly how she wants to sound. The promise is for this to be the start of a very productive music career, for a girl who has been going at it for a long time on her own. A wolf is a pack animal by nature and Stone Wolf proves all Rania needed was the right pack around her.

Pros: Originality and Humor, Terrific Arrangements, Genuinely fun listen, and Perfect length for multiple listens.

Cons: Sounds at times like she is still figuring what she is vocally, lacks the energy of the live performances at times.

By: Chris Edwards for Cosign Magazine