Sterling Witt – Satyagraha
URL: https://www.sterlingwitt.com/
Sterling Witt’s already strong reputation as one of the most engaging guitar playing songwriters working today will likely only be further burnished by his latest full length release Satyagraha. This thirteen song opus, recorded and mixed by famed producer Steve Albini, bristles with an intelligent, questioning spirit that never simply accepts reality as it is given to him, but it also rampages and struts with undeniable rock and roll grit. Witt takes the album title from a word Indian spiritual and political leader Mahatma Gandhi used to describe the transformative power of objective truth in a world that rarely places any sort of premium on honesty. As before, however, this overarching thematic conceit never bogs the album down in wordiness – much like his guitar playing and arranging, Witt never uses two words when simply one will do and the result is an intense and highly focused affair that also spills over the rim with melody upon melody.
Kathy Muir - Second Life URL: https://www.kathymuir.com/ It is refreshing to hear an album so committed to presenting fully rounded material. Kathy Muir’s third album Second Life doesn’t just succeed on a musical level, but it scores big on a lyrical level as well. Muir’s lyrics are full of plain-spoken poetry and exquisite imagery in equal measure and never aspire to any sort of pseudo-poetic incomprehensibility. The musical qualities are abundant. Melodies abound and the instrumentation is beautifully tasteful without ever missing opportunities. The production gives the music a great sonic forum to reach the listener and the urgency of its sound keeps the songwriting sounding intimate from first song to the final track. This is an improvement over her two preceding albums, but the observation is no slight on those earlier efforts. Second Life is just that damn good.
Angie and the Deserters – You URL: https://www.angieandthedeserters.com/ Angie and the Deserters’ third recording, a six song EP titled You, is a slight shift in gears from her previous release Blood Like Wine. There are no real barnburners in this release comparable to Blood Like Wine’s bruiser “Country Radio” and, instead, Angie Bruyere and her fellow musicians sound like an artistic unit intent on exploring a wider emotional array than before. The same clarity defining the production on her earlier releases continues with this new studio confection and it results in a group of songs that sound cut live on the floor mere minutes after they finalized their composition. This fresh quality captures the band seemingly in a state of constant inspiration and there’s no question Bruyere is there with every word of her vocals. This is bracing and physical music delivered from a place deep within and geared for broad-based audience appeal.
Juliet Huns - Behind the Scenes URL: https://www.juliethuns.com/ The EP Behind the Scenes, the first release from Kenyan born and now Los Angeles based singer Juliet Huns, is an impressive introduction to a artistic figure poised to garner considerable attention. The three songs included are definitely pop tracks, but they aren’t your typical offerings. There’s an evolved sensibility here that’s certainly a cut or more above what the mainstream gatekeepers prefer. Huns simply isn’t pigeonholed easily. Describing her songs and performances as pop is scarcely even half the story. Much of the time, Huns eyes song construction the way rock bands approach it – orchestrated to induce tension – and her voice carries off those moments without a hitch. She is a powerful, fluid singer who can move through a range of emotions without overexerting herself or turning the vocal in a heavy handed direction.
