**1/2 Once Blue
ONCE BLUE
A soft voice and a lanky guitar mark the alluring
combination of fluid songwriting and lyrical imagery from vocalist Rebecca
Martin and guitarist Jesse Harris. Domestic relationships and pastoral imagery
are backed by a lithe, acoustic rhythm section. Martin's smoky voice brushes
just above Harris's as a marimba
and upright bass cloak the imagery of "Stardust and Snow."
"Save Me"
features Martin's voice seeping into the gentle
flow of an electric guitar as she asks, "Got you under my skin/How did you get
in?" On "When the Lilies Bloom" Martin rises from confidential whisper to the
arrangement's cathartic swells. "Wait" is a brisk
bossa
with lively jazz guitar
and spare vocal harmonies. Once Blue
shift through tempos with grace, though
the difference in settings is less notable than the consistent rainy-day stasis
of mood.
-- Sander Wolf
(Once Blue open for the October Project
at Avalon Wednesday, March
20.)
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