Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Amy Vachal, a standout on Season 9 of The Voice, has released a debut album.

It’s also her first major release since the show, not to mention a wonderful reminder of why she wound up finishing in the Top 9 in Season 9.

The 11-track album includes 10 originals, plus a cover of “Below My Feet” by Mumford & Sons. Only one song, the wonderful single “Wait,” was previously released.

Amy has a writing credit on all the originals; in fact, she’s the sole songwriter on eight of them. She also solely produced those eight tracks.

Just for good measure, she also plays steel and nylon guitars, piano, organ, glockenspiel and harmonica on the album.

As for her ethereal vocals, they’re most effective on the title track, the excellent album-opening “Golden Boy” and the album-closing “Stones.”

The Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter will be performing songs from the album during a show at the Rockwood Music Hall in New York tonight at 7 p.m. (Following her to the stage will be another former Voice standout, Vicci Martinez at 8:30 p.m.)

Amy, 26 at the time, was one of the last artists to earn a spot on Season 9 of The Voice, turning the chairs of all three coaches with spots on their teams remaining with her rendition of “Dream a Little Dream.” She joined Team Pharrell Williams, but was eventually stolen by Adam Levine and made the live shows as a member of his team.

Pre-Voice, she released a pair of EPs, “Appleseed” in 2011 and “Crinkle Bloom” in 2014.

To keep up with Amy, follow her on her website or Facebook page. On Twitter, she’s simply @amyvachal.

Now, here are two of my favorite tracks from “Strawberry Moon.”