Krystle Warren and the Faculty - Circles

  by Lisa Torem

published: 27 / 1 / 2010

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Review

Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri, busking tables in New York city, rubbing elbows with Loudon and Martha Wainwright and ultimately enjoying the appreciation of a Paris audience, Krystle Warren has indeed come full circle. Therefore, it’s no surprise that ‘Circles’ is the title of her new release. Krystle “needs the lyric.” But she’s also nonplussed by soul virtuosity and off-kilter stylizations. She was greatly inspired by David Byrne’s performance in ‘Stop Making Sense!’ but, equally enjoys Marvin Gaye and Bill Withers and the goddess herself, Aretha. The opener ‘Year End Issue’ brings the fact that her talent is immense immediately to roost. Blanketed by billowy guitar she queries, "What if there is no tomorrow?" “Relationships move in circles,” she extracts. Warm, sonorous vocals swirl easily from image to image here. ‘Sunday Comfort’ states "These circumstances/These days of the week/I’ll fold them and make them into origami" and she does so with her elasticized delivery. ‘Current Events’ streams boldy due to its instrumentation which is offset by cavalier phrasing. It’s also an interesting choice to precede the garage-band kicker ‘The Means To Be’ which taunts the androgynous request "Give me a man that’s just like a woman." ‘Sparkle and Fade’ is so genuine you hear the screech of the fingers on the guitar’s neck whilst Krystle slathers the background with moans of honey. ‘Yuletide Carol’ is embracing. "Yuletide Carol on the holidays/The lonely gaze is everywhere/In smoky bars and alleyways?Among the strays" is emulsifying. Fluid indicators of this performer’s range tease us unrelentingly in this ballad and lines that include imagery of "techno-hues" and "cattle calls" add glistening holiday lights. The piece de resistance is the confessional closer ‘My Third Love.’ "Maybe it was jealousy that finally drove me away" she opines. ‘Circles’ is an album which triangulates effusive vocals, freshly-whittled, outside-the- lines songwriting and unplugged expertise. For that reason, ‘Circles’ is clearly in tip-top shape

Track Listing:-

1 Year End Issue
2 Three Women
3 To The Middle
4 Title Track
5 Sunday Comfort
6 Current Events
7 The Means To Be
8 Sparkle And Fade
9 A View From The Rooftop
10 Chelsea Piers
11 Yuletide Carol
12 Some Trivial Pursuit
13 My Third Love (Radio Edit) [Bonus Track]

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