Rating: NN
More intriguing than the shuffle-beat-backed teen pop of Maren Ord's highly touted debut is Nettwerk's three years of strategic groundwork to build the fluttery-voiced Edmonton songbird into the new Sarah McLachlan.
Profile-boosting Lilith Fair appearances have been followed by prime song placement on demographically favourable network television shows like That's Life and Felicity. A Billboard stroke piece also helped set the stage for the launch of Ord's syrupy-sweet Waiting album, deftly shaped by Stephen Hague (Ace of Base) to show off the stormin' Mormon's girlishly breathy crooning and boldly banal lyrics. Of course, it's utterly disposable pap, but watch it sell like toothpaste in Utah.