Amanda Thorpe
Mass
Cropduster
The image on the cover of the CD reminds me a little of Marianne Faithful, and then the first song hits, and it moves me in a similar way, but much smokier and far smoother. Velvet vocals under fog-touched trumpet that calls out like a scene in some black and white film, and I feel the seduction in the voice. The smoke continues to flow, sexy and dark, into the next song. Shades of a blue lit room in an empty club. Shades of sadness, and an ache that pulls across the dirt road drums like a stretch of highway at dusk. The variations of the instruments in the songs, from the accordion to the farfisa, keeps the movements interesting, but it’s that voice that ties the songs together. Ties them together like a distant crush that you’ll dream about but never touch.
Cropduster Records, 78 Trask Avenue, Bayonne, NJ 07002; http://www.cropduster.com
