Daphne Lee Martin’s latest CD Scared Fearless takes the genre bending singer-songwriter-arranger deeper into Americana Roots music than she’s ever gone before. It’s another nice new twist for her audience that has been curious about what this Connecticut artist will come up with next. A worthwhile listening experience, Martin bares her soul while offering some of her finest artistic flourishes.
Opening track “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down” finds Martin contemplative in a dark, cool voice. Her drawling vocal line spreads coolly over a drawling lead guitar and other rangy instrumentation. Martin succeeds in making us feel her fear of losing the light, losing hope, losing all as she swaggers with determined spirit and a tastefully restrained vocal power. A touch of menace from a wide, rumbling electric guitar creates a curious, engaging dance between vocals and instruments that only heightens all the tension going on here.
“Young Man’s Game” lets Martin showcase what she can do with a whispery Americana ballad. Crooning over a soulful organ crawl, she moves at a mellow, considerate pace, letting loose a lot of emotions by reigning in her expression, letting it flow over all with a winsome timbre and brief, easeful vocal sustains. A fiddle melody accompanies her with a moody, melancholy feel in the backdrop.
“In Certain Company” is a dark revelation about an untruthful companion. Martin’s vocal expression is powerful in a quiet way, letting her downtrodden tone carry the message and the emotion well. Supporting her is a manic fiddle line followed by a rustic toned guitar phrase, a line that pour fourth with tortured emotion as it reaches its final cry.
“Rainy Day Women #42” is a clever play on Bob Dylan’s song title. It’s actually a Daphne Lee Martin original. Focused on the women who can be found in any town traveling a tough road in life. With a touch of funky guitar, soulful organ, and an interesting drum pattern, Martin shows some spunk here. Her delivery is raw, strong, and determined. She knows the terrain musically and lyrically, and her easeful croons milk this song of hope for all it’s worth. Guitar and organ flourishes widen the arc of this number while driving it home with tremendous feeling.
Tender, soulful, down tempo, “Break My Heart Tomorrow” lets Martin show, once again, how powerful she can be in a quiet setting. She takes her time releasing the sorrow of a loss, injecting ever more feeling in just the right places with her tasteful self-control, keeping everything inside of a pretty vocal line and within a lonesome piano melody.
A pared down piano number, “John Henry’s Lullaby” reveals the classy crooner side of Martin’s work. She comes across like a piano bar singer crossed with a 1970s singer-songwriter idol. Her voice haunts the melody line with traces of sorrow and hope, balancing opposite emotions as only as true musician can.
The boldly titled “Fuck Tinder, I’m Standing Right Here” is an action packed mid-tempo rocker. Martin’s sultry timbre is well employed here. Sprawling out her vocal, sounding raw, sassy, and straight up, she delivers well. Beneath her vocal line is a snappy electric guitar rhythm with a slow ripple of organ chords. Martin takes a honky tonk attitude then stretches that sub genre into a torch song territory. The result is something that plays with power in the music and lyrics that hits like a smack in the face.
“Jack O Diamond” moseys along, riding a take your time groove as Martin and her band mates inject plenty of perky notes and fine touches. Ms. Martin’s voice is a hearty batch of assertive vocal lines and sultry sustains. She rolls through this with determined grit, supported by a mound of electric guitar gruel and a steady series of drum smacks. This one then rings out even truer in the emotive department as a pedal steel cries out with great tone.
“Some Fool” weaves acoustic guitar tenderness with Martin’s considered vocal approach. She hovers over pretty acoustic instrumentation with a ladylike aplomb while baring her soul with her honest lyrical approach. She admits self-doubt then has the courage to move on, all with beauteous vocal expressions.
“Songbird” reveals Martin’s Appalachian roots. A banjo perks in the backdrop. A fiddle sings in the foreground. The country flavored sound leaves Martin a perfect platform to duet with a male singer about the beauty of living in Tennessee. The banjo, fiddle, and an eventual pedal steel play like kissing cousins, knowing each other enough to flirt but also where to draw the line, a perfect balance of players and old timey vocal applications.
The chorus in “Willing Victim” brings Martin into the songwriting territory of tortured 1990s female singer-songwriters. Influences like Tori Amos and Alanis Morissette come to mind as Martin sings “Why don’t you lie to me, lie to me, please just be kind to me.” A weepy emotion on the surface of this song belies the deeper darkness in this song’s lyrical underpinnings. Martin carries it with classy, smoky delivery, wrapping herself around the sorrow and holding it dear. This one might make it onto local radio formats in Martin’s adopted home state of Connecticut as well as the other stations around New England who are familiar with her abilities. Did I mention that this tune has a slippery lead guitar line that makes you wish this song could last a lot longer?
“I Hope I Never Meet The Bitch Who Broke Your Heart” takes it time dishing out the perky notes and tortured soul vocals. Martin graces the gritty instrumentation with a mournful croon that seems to glide over all. She manages her own flight path through this hearty number, contrasting well with the plucky players beneath her.
Close out song “Till We Meet Again” juxtaposes Martin’s emotive vocal line with a haunting fiddle melody. Her words of parting, sung with perfect tenderness, is matched well by melodic flourishes from the other instruments in this song. More lush here, her voice caresses her lyrics to make for one of the most heartfelt songs in an album that is loaded with them.
Daphne Lee Martin has done it again. She has masterfully flipped into another genre, being a more Americana artist on this very solid outing, leaving us all to ponder where she will go and what she will conjure on her next recorded work. Working with producers Eric Lichter and Jonah Tolchin along with musicians Isaac Young, MorganEve Swain, Matt Slobogan, Jim Carpenter, Thor Jensen, Andrew Sovine, Kieran Ledwidge, Tall Tall Trees, and John Faraone at Dirt Floor Studios in the Connecticut mountains, she has created an honest emotional document about her life as well as a bold artistic work. Bravo.
