Linda Marks continues to rise to new heights as an artist. Like her previous album, A Recipe Of Hope, Silence Of The Stars shows an artist whose talents are converging into something taller, wider, and more in depth. Each song on Stars shine like a gem under a jeweler’s lens.
Opening cut “Be The Change” finds Marks’ smooth breezy vocal sailing lightly over a myriad of pleasant instrumentation. Sweet notes swirl around Marks voice as she delights the ear with her lilting vocal melody. She manages all going on in this song with a masterful grace, just one sign that her talents have congealed over time, leaving an artist who can weave a larger tapestry of sound
“Motherless Daughters, Fatherless Songs” paints a vivid picture of women and men who had to find their own guidance, there own way in life. Marks, gliding through, uses coos and sustains to keep her lilting vocal melody in beautiful motion.
A breezy anthem, “Lighthouse” finds Marks using her smooth, silky voice, calling on people to shine, her vocal gliding through each meter. Her vocal phrasing darts over a piano’s rhythmic underpinnings, nailing the motions in just the right places. This one moves like the bright sunlight shimmering along a lake. It’s uncanny how well this number moves.
Influenced by 1920s’ jazz, “The Garden Buffet” finds Marks singing a jaunty phrase, augmented sweetly by Stan Slotter’s understated trumpet. What a combination, that lively voice and that rich horn. A bouncy accompaniment from a guitar lead rhythm section and piano gives the voice and horn a hopping groove to support and inspire their magic.
“Wisdom Of Lived Years” conjures a nostalgic feeling. Making her voice as smooth as Alice Hansen’s violin and Michael Ronstadt’s cello, Marks depicts vivid images of her childhood garden before using them as metaphors for personal growth. This singer-songwriter makes one feel the value of all one gains in a lifetime of experience. Sustains in voice and in instrumentation stretch the bittersweet nostalgia blanketing this song.
Title track “The Silence Of The Stars” lets Marks sum up her the story of her life, from victim to survivor to thriving adult. Marks wisely understates the trauma of her youth, smothering the horror with pretty vocal phrasing and lovely accompaniment to seamlessly transition to her happier adulthood. Masterfully balancing the darkness of her past with the brightness of her present, Marks works up a lot of joyful feelings with emotive piano grist and her lively sustains.
“Sanctuary” travels along to Willie Sordillo’s breezy saxophone and Charu Suri’s elegant piano. Marks keeps this mid tempo mood piece filled with the comforts of home. Blending her vocal with other singers, Marks weaves a warm blanket of sound, a feeling that one can remain safe there. “Sanctuary” certainly describes the homey atmosphere these singers and players creatively weave.
Willie Sordillo’s romantic saxophone flavors with a floating charm this singer-songwriter’s “No Time For Dreams.” Mark’s lovely vocal assertions mirror that horn with her perfect sustains and well placed emphasis. It feels like Carole King meets Norah Jones, a blend of jazzy love and singer-songwriter aplomb. Doug Kwartler’s thick bass muscle gives it all a seriously smooth motion as well as a sensitive support. It requires all of this support as Mark’s lovely voice sails past with poignant purpose.
“Brave Baby Brett” speaks of the hopeless worry of a young girl’s unexpected pregnancy doubled with an indication of a hole in the baby’s heart. Mark’s affectionate vocal delivery and her sensitive lyrics keeps this tune warm and hopeful, as does a singing violin live, a warm Wurlitzer puff, and a thick low end line. Marks’ voice certainly finds a good home among these players as her song progresses through a life history.
Sweet uplifting melody from Raianne Richards’s clarinet lulls us into “Ghosts.” Michael Ronstadt’s moody cello helps keep us in a place where Marks wants us to be. In this special emotive place, Marks perfectly captures with words how her life has been impacted by her major moments. Her beautiful phrasing and lovely sustains recreate the sensation she depicts of reliving the past.
“Shipwrecked,” a bittersweet reflection on Mark’s childhood lost to the coldest day in one hundred years. Forlorn emotion, conjured by Mark’s down tempo sentiment, comes in each measure. Her vocal self-restraint packs emotion by not unpacking it. Backing vocals add a haunting layer of grief as the piano melody moves in an elegant and tender cycle which never dissolves. “Shipwrecked,” as a song title is inspired by the master mariner who was the builder of this home. Marks’s song is as much to him as it is for her own catharsis and that dual purpose provides added oomph.
Close out track” Learn To Really See A Flower” finds Marks once again layering the beauty of her voice with sensitive instrumentation. She soars to greater vocal heights on his ode to Georgia O’Keeffe, starting with a strong even vocal approach before eventually reaching the stratosphere with her soaring lift.
Marks has certainly outdone herself. Her songwriting skills have reached a point where she is among the best of them, famous or local. Her vocal work, piano work, and arrangement of the support instruments certainly warrants her use of producer Glenn Barratt at Morningstar Studios in Philadelphia where most of this album was recorded. Marks, always seeking her best sound, also used Lonnie Park and Nate Horton at Barncastle Studio in Freeville, New York as well as her local producers Doug Kwartler at Hollow Body Studio in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and Doug Hammer at Dreamworld Productions in Lynn, Massachusetts. Marks’ development of her talents are well documented on this album, an album that forces the listener to wonder how it would have fared if it were released in the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s.
