I've become a fan of female singer-songwriters in recent years. These are the songwriters who often spend their days playing piano bars hoping to find an audience but rarely do so. They're too often compared to the likes of Sarah McLaughlin or Tori Amos to ever find radio audiences; most casual fans assume they're nothing but carbon-copies of the artists they listen to.
That's a stereotype I'd like to diffuse. There are several artists out there who are perhaps better than any radio cookie cutters you've heard lately. Here are three you might want to keep an eye on.
Charlotte Martin - "In Parentheses (EP)" RCA 2003 (Rating: ***)
Charlotte isn't going to have a hard time getting noticed; her trouble will be throwing off the comparisons to Tori Amos. The fact that she writes music reminiscent of Amos' Little Earthquakes shouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but this four track EP does come dangerously close to being more emulation than original. Yet as I listen, I find myself thoroughly enjoying all the songs, from the energetically sharp "Pretty Thing" to the radio friendliness of the opening track, "Your Armor," both of which evoke the kind of sound I like to hear from any songsmith worth his or her salt. Once Martin releases a full album and begins to find her own voice amid the influences, I have the feeling she'll be a force to watch in the coming years.
Maggie Kubley - "Start" Independent 2003 (Rating: **1/2)
Maggie Kubley hails from Muncie and is a student at Ball State. When she dropped by my apartment one day back in January asking if I'd review her album, I was certainly interested, especially when she compared herself to Fiona Apple, an artist I've enjoyed listening to greatly since her debut. Kubley's album "Start" doesn't disappoint, if you're interested in coffeehouse music that doesn't sound like it wants to be any more than that. Don't get me wrong, Kubley has a great voice and is certainly proficient enough on the piano to build a very loyal audience. But when I break this album down and look at the lyrics, I keep coming up dry. The songs tend to ramble, and often I find myself having to struggle to determine where she's going with her lyrics. This is an album people will love if they've heard her play live at the Blue Bottle. But it's not a sound that will ever translate to radio, or to much of an audience outside Muncie.
Vienna Teng - "Warm Strangers" Virt Records 2004 (Rating: *****)
You can all be damned sure I don't give five starred ratings lightly. Vienna Teng is the real deal, and if you don't listen to "Warm Strangers" and to her amazing debut "Waking Hour" (which David Letterman called perfect from start to finish over a year ago) you're missing one of America's great up-and-coming young musicians. Vienna has both the piano virtuosity and the vocal prowess to take her music straight from the West Coast coffee houses, where she built a strong reputation, right into your living room. Songs like the beautifully evocative "Harbor" (which deserves to be a radio single) show Vienna's voice is ready for the masses, while others like "Shine" give a lighter and more intimate view of her amazing sense of melodic structure. "Hope on Fire," one of the best tracks I've heard from her yet, provides the best of both and is likely to help push Vienna into the headphones of mainstream America. In this reviewer's opinion, that's a wonderful thing. If you buy one album this spring, make it "Warm Strangers." If you like music that is both accessible and amazingly constructed, you'll never be disappointed by Vienna Teng.
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