New CD "Lately" Now Available!

“LATELY “:THE LAST MARTHA ANN BROOKS.

After the release of “Simply” in 2006, I was gripped by the Martha Ann’s thanks to Neil Young, who had placed in his website one of the best tracks of the album, “When your soldier comes back home”, a piece against the war composed by the same Brooks for her husband. The Montgomery artist is not only a musician who can write songs, but she is also a painter as well as a poetess: Martha Ann is a woman who loves the life with its difficulties and passions, where love, a tough feeling, is not exempt by troubles and pains. The introspective knowledge of the human being is the middle, the true heart in Martha Ann’s songs. Recently, she wrote “Lately” a strongly variegated musical palette containing so many different colourful tunes. Their colours are sometimes light, some others so marked and bright; often they reflect a highly refined musicality which harmonizes so perfectly with the lyrics. Each tune conveys an intimate and deep thought of her everyday life, where Brooks is confronted with the integrity of her thought; she never lies and she devolves it partially to the music, then she let the natural passion drift herself away, intimately handed over her own “Alter Ego”. So Martha Ann considers the human thinking a true bulwark of intimate acquaintance, unyielding consistency and dignity, a check point through the wonderful journey each man undertakes during his ongoing pilgrimage. The 12 tracks contain a wide miscellany of different musical genres gained without worrying of labelling or classifying, following the casualness of the moment. Scoring the tracks you can encounter country ,folk, blues, rock, swing, pop and Americana which Martha defines clearly “BLUEFOLKACANA”, sounds reflecting a set of harmonies, emotions and feelings, sometimes so strong or in conflict with the soul. Clear voiced and well tuned, at times, the Brooks recalls Anne Murray gone by, the resemblance impresses most of all in pieces such as “Your Love Kills”, “Dead Or Alive” and “Could We Go Back”. Touching and delicious the “Unfamiliar Circumstances” ballad. Furthermore, “Little Mama” includes so much interesting classic harmonies such as the emerging harmonica and guitars, while at the same time “Lovers in Love” and “Deliciously Lonely” are so captivating thanks to their waltzing time. The album reaches the top with “Lately”, while the unique and terrific “Steal Your Heart” is so striking for its emotional distress; the swinging time “Dalai Lama Song” deals with a man who gives moments of true optimism, who can constantly testify them by his pleasant looking. “Lately” is really a great job, published two months ago and produced by Gary Farmer, an album that I would recommend it to the good music lovers.

Davide Frascella