Search - Heather Eatman :: Real

Heather Eatman's first two albums offered charming and often poignant visits with the oddball characters who hang around the side streets of her imagination. But Real, the waifish New York-based singer-songwriter's third outing, often seems to camp closer to home in confessional portraits of love delayed and denied. In pairing her with the electric soundscape of alt-rock trio Joe, Marc's Brother, producer Roger Moutenot (Lou Reed, Paula Cole) fits new wings to her dreamy, altered states, layering churning, diesel-powered guitars beneath her winsome folk-pop and blues. Whether recounting the demolition of love ("Heaven Help Us"), a disturbing sexual experience ("Mixed Up Girl"), or, in "Too Wild," the saga of an untamable horse, Eatman is always hypnotically original, her imagery ("muscles, bones, thrown at the sky") haunting and new. The surprise is how powerfully she sucks you into the swirl, her whispered vocals, softer than pillow talk, perfectly poised between passion and pain. Unforgettable. --Alanna Nash