“...With a range that swoops and soars in unexpected directions, Kubik’s fluid piano style is Liz Story New Age and Dave Brubeck Cool Jazz; her vocals veer from deeply delicate, lilting Kate Bush and Rickie Lee Jones (circa ‘Pirates’) to the pounding strength of Tori Amos. And each influence is given Kubik’s elegant twist...The girl knows a good tune, and her CD is full of them.” (Christine Cafarella, CITYSEARCH) “Pigeon is an effective and simple showcase for Kubik’s songs and her warmly expressive voice......The CD is mostly piano and vocals, with some tasty instrumental accents (strings, trumpet, upright bass) to add color to the songs. Letting Kubik display her range and technique, we get a full dance card’s worth of approaches: Tori Amos style trills and dips on “I Carry Your Heart”; Joni Mitchell conversational musings with “Little Bird”; sassy jazz vocals for “Big Red Barn”; brassy R&B singing on “Tie Up The Line”. “Pigeon” is where all the years as the perennial side woman and studio pro have paid off - Kubik’s voice has the unmistakable mark of experience, mature and seasoned without ever sounding jaded or world weary.” (Curt Schultze, THE OREGONIAN) “...With this, her first solo effort, Mel displays stalwart abilities on the piano, as well as serious vocal chops. She combines the mature emotions of Karla Bonoff and Joni Mitchell with the emotiveness of Tori Amos, for a tightly woven presentation of eleven well-constructed songs. But, as is clearly demonstrated on the beboppish instrumental “My Dearest Wormwood,” Mel can outplay all three of the aftermentioned with one hand tied behind her back. And it’s pretty much a who’s-who of local glitterati backing Kubik from track to track.... The material is all over the board stylistically, from the Emmylou-like Country of “Don’t Mistake Me For An Angel,” to the Raittish “Slow Freight Train;” from the Latin-infused “Big Red Barn,” to the gymnopedie of “Try To Be Still.” All are played with sterling precision and pristine expertise. But Kubik scores her best marks with the more challenging aspects found in the string-laden charts of “I Carry Your Heart” and “Blue” and the bold stride of “What Does It Matter.” The latter cooks from the heat of Kubik’s familiar chord progression and Doug Fraser’s impeccable guitar turns over Carlton Jackson’s sledgehammer beat. Mel performs the vocal with passion and panache. On “I Carry Your Heart,” she leaps wide intervals in a single uvular bound, augmented by Nicole Campbell and Gavin Bondy, as aggressive strings march across the choruses. Wager’s piquant bass figure and Kubik’s rolling chords neatly fill the spaces in the verses of a world class presentation. “Blue” call to mind the winsome romances of Kate Bush’s early perion in the late ‘70s. A beautiful melody cascades against elegant piano filigrees and majestic flashes of Wager’s acoustic bass and accents of strings and brass. Very pretty. Kubik’s solo performance on “Little Bird” is a standout. And “Slow Frieght Train” is well-tendered.....Mel Kubik demonstrates exceptional talents as a singer, a songwriter and a pianist.....” (S.P. Clarke, TWO LOUIES MAGAZINE)