Search - Annie Gallup :: Half of My Crime

Champagne & Cake

Lee Armstrong | Winterville, NC United States | 07/06/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Annie Gallup is one of the most consistently original artists working today. Her voice has a hushed quality like Suzanne Vega, but it works well, frequently with tongue-in-cheek. "3 Brothers" is one of those classic Gallup tracks with a killer bass line on which she hangs a beatnik ballad, "Three brothers on the make, love to break and love to barter, Oldest took champagne and cake, lost the wager, caught the garter; Youngest searched his whole life through, a diamond shoe, a white tuxedo, one too big and one too little; You were the brother in the middle." It sounds like a companion piece to "Three Bills" from her excellent CD Swerve. "Avalon," recorded in Asheville, North Carolina, is another offbeat ballad about a card game, a broken goldfish bowl and soldiers home from war. "The Contender" floats on Sean Kelly's upright bass as Gallup talk-sings against a sparse arrangement with finger snap percussion. On "3rd Person," Gallup's melody reflects a woman speaking when slightly tipsy. "Enough" is another soft ballad on a great bass riff and Gallup's hushed vocals urgent and longing, "His hands were not rough but he handled me roughly; His touch was not sweet but he touched something sweet in me; His hands still carried the cane, chains; Three hundred years of hard times; Oh, sugar, you'll never be mine." "Faithful" is another delightful track that pulses with Gallup's vocals as much moan as melody, "Black cat in the brambles where there once was a town; Slow dance in the broken glass that's tumbled down." Annie Gallup's music is delightful. Her sound is unique and original, always a treat. Bravo!"