Search - Brenda Kahn :: Epiphany in Brooklyn

Brenda Kahn's Guided Tour of the Midwest

Aaron Dietz | Seattle, WA | 08/07/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There are not many singers that work with dense vocabulary (when is the last time you heard "sardonic" in a song?) without sacrificing fluidity or poetic simplicity. In "Mint Juleps and Needles" the lyric, "We are the people our parents warned us about" is one simple example of how Brenda Kahn magnifies life without losing any of the detail.
Intelligent, witty, and truthful, Brenda Kahn's lyrics combine with a varied attack on guitar (from wicked to playful to sadly gentle) to form sketches of loves, losses, and frozen moments of cosmic importance."

Superb spikey folk rock

J. Holmes | yokohama, japan | 10/26/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"throughout Epiphany In Brooklyn, Brenda Kahn's acoustic guitar strums along with a fiery drive that enforces her sharp songwriting skills. her songs are stories littered with colourful characters and broken bleeding hearts. the music is Dylan-esque in it's basic approach, but employs plenty of heart and soul to make it stand out as her own. this is a superb collection of songs with "She's In Love" probably being my all time favorite. Brenda has a skill for penning some great lyrics and she comes accross as a master storyteller with a sarcastic smirk that seems to cut both ways. i first bought this album on cassette after seeing her "Eggs On Drugs" video on some very small independent music video show years and years ago. eventually, i wore the tape out and was saddened to learn that this cd went out of print. thankfully, i got lucky when i found this in a used bin and i've been enjoying relistening back to these great songs full of love, life, wisdom and wit."

A View From The 40Ft Domino Sugar Sign.

Lorne Dixon | New Jersey | 03/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Brenda Kahn's second record is an insane hybrid of a half dozen branches of the Rock An' Roll tree. If the idea of Joe Strummer and Leonard Cohen meeting up on Avenue A at three A.M. sparks an interest, then this album is probably the soundtrack to your best dreams. Kahn is sometimes unfairly lumped in with "anti-folk" or "chick rock", which is a lot like saying the Beatles were a decent Brit-Pop band. Of course they were, but it doesn't even begin to start there. Brenda's gifts are jaded storytelling, raw performance, and a delicious sense of irony. Her music feels like New York after a midday drizzle, people just beginning to put away their umbrellas as they race through the town, a million stories hidden under full length coats. There's heartbreak here, but a snide sense of hope, too- in most languages that's the basis for adventure. While its fair to say this isn't a perfect album, its beauty often lies in its flaws- tiny achievements in their own right. Brenda Kahn was unfortuantely not destined for celebrity status. But that doesn't mean her brilliance needs to be ignored by people of taste. Buy a copy- and one of the follow-up, Destination Anywhere- and prepare for a truly singular experience in a copycat world."