Reintroducing Nathalie Archangel

 Chances are, you have never heard of Nathalie Archangel. In the late 1980s/early 1990s, the American singer-songwriter was putting out one gem (“So Quiet, So Still”) after another (“Mr. Perfect For Me”) and working with everyone from Howard Jones to future “American Idol” judge Randy Jackson. But, perhaps because she traded labels (going from Columbia to MCA) midstream, she never quite broke through the way, say, Cyndi Lauper did. (Could also be because, as she suggests on her website (nathaliearchangel.com), she “never quite fit into a mould.”). Indeed, check out this wonderful piece on her by The Isle of Deserted Pop Stars. Luckily, all these years later, she still possesses a voice that can make your heart soar one minute and break the next! And she’s putting those powerful pipes of hers to good use on “Next to Me,” an electropop reworking of her waltz from “Melanie LaPatin’s Ballroom Remixed” compilation by Ricardo Autobahn (available here). The song itself is as sweet and romantic as they come – all but a sequel to her mini-hit “Mr. Perfect For Me.” . And, as an added bonus, it serves as an appetizer to “Raven,” her first new album since “Owl” in 1991.