CD Review

I have wondered what the success formula is for female musicians, as it seems to be something of a moving target. There is clearly a diva-pop contingent, whose records often lean heavily on stellar voice matched with ridiculous, insecure and/or co-dependent personalities. There is the pseudo iconoclastic, eff-you-I’m-a-bad-ass-bitch grouping, who aren’t really tied to a specific sound as much as a gimmick. The truly affecting and lasting women singer/songwriters, however, seem to skirt the edges of the predictable airwaves; they make a record once in their 20-year careers that catches the ear of the general listening public, but linger otherwise simply with the help of the truly faithful fans they cultivate. See Dar Williams. See Shawn Colvin. See, if it were up to me, Deb Talan.

Talan is definitely in the mold of Colvin and Williams, and is something of a mix of the two vocally. She tells her stories well on A Bird Flies Out, and uses her unique voice to give her characters some substance. Her voice is steady and welcoming throughout; the flow and inflection of some notes providing a rich backdrop for the lyrics to paint their pictures in your mind. Talan’s calming choruses often show a disarming vulnerability, while others convey her tougher side. The mix of the two gives this album a novelty; sidestepping the status quo feel of current Singing Brands like Christina Aguilera and Pink. Someone with Talan’s talent could easily buy into a similar marketing ploy; sacrificing honest music for the sake of the lucre. But instead she stands tall, and lets her music do the marketing.

Though the entire disc was excellent, two songs particularly impressed me. The first was actually the first on the disc, called “Unraveling”. Probably the catchiest of the lot, it also sets the tone of the album lyrically, with striking nuggets like “You wear the truth under your sole like a pebble, it makes you limp and sway but it will out someday.” Talan paints a portrait in about three minutes of the jittery façade of someone who’s falling apart on the inside, with predictions that the outside is soon to follow. “Two Points” tells its own story, ostensibly of a relationship that can’t figure itself out. Both the woman and man, as Talan describes them, seem off-kilter in very different ways. But the song tells their crosscut-saw tale with clever non-sequiturs and Talan’s knack for subtle notes with catchy hooks.

Ever the busy songstress, she is currently on tour with The Weepies, a duo she’s created with her partner in “music, love and other adventures” Steve Tannen. If their work is anything like A Bird Flies Out, it will be just another step on the brilliant path she’s blazed, making music that can’t be easily branded or easily forgotten.