This one really caught me off guard. Like Alanis Morissette’s album, I resisted buying this for a long time because it’s just not typical for me to gravitate toward something that’s getting current radio airplay. I don’t even know what it was about Merril’s weird single “Mouth” that did it for me, but I reluctantly picked up the album and found that she never quite sounds the same way twice. Bainbridge emerges as an effective pop-lite vocalist, sounding a lot like Olivia Newton-John did in her heyday in the 1970s. But even though she comes across initially as yet another cute, pre-packaged artist put together by a producer, some of her vocals really are quite effective, and even some of the backing tracks are above par. The real standout on this album is “Power Of One”, an absolutely gorgeous ballad with excellent lyrics and production. It’s a very 
nice track that promises much, even though her sophomore outing dropped the ball on the potential of her treatment of slower songs. She may never amass more than a small cult following in the U.S., but I have a feeling that – despite the folly of releasing the goofy “Under The Water” as the second single from this album – we haven’t heard the last of Merril Bainbridge yet.
- Garden In My Room (4:32)
- Under The Water (4:13)
- Miss You (3:04)
- Mouth (3:26)
- Julie (3:56)
- Song For Neen (2:41)
- Sleeping Dogs (3:28)
- Reasons Why (2:57)
- Spinning (4:10)
- Being Boring (3:52)
- State of Mind (5:02)
- Power of One (4:08)
- Garden In My Room – reprise (1:14)
Released by: Universal
Release date: 1995
Total running time: 46:43
