It always gives me warm fuzzies to read stories about English majors finding relative success in a world saturated with talented and not-so-talented artists alike all trying to crawl to the top of the pile.
Anya Marina’s street cred, on top of an English degree, includes a featured track from her first album on the Grey’s Anatomy soundtrack, as well as a radio DJ gig on KBZT in San Diego. I’ll admit it: I am addicted to Grey’s Anatomy, but for some reason the association put a damper on the promise of what this album would sound like.
I am always somewhat skeptical of female singers and songwriters, simply because in my own musical evolution, I was slow to find ones that I really liked. Fortunately, that phase has now passed.
Slow & Steady Seduction: Phase II is a melodic dish of ditties that sound like a slice of pop tart pie with a side of snazz. A celebration of being single, the album contains breathy, beautiful singing and well-crafted and orchestrated songs. My first impression was that it sounded like what would happen if Tegan or Sara made a solo album, which is to say the salty lyrics and feisty vocal style mixes well with skillfully produced sound.
As the record progresses into “Drop Dead Blues,” it sounds suddenly as if Spoon has morphed into a striking blonde woman and simplified the setup. This is when I take a closer look at the liner notes and realize that Britt Daniel produced a couple of songs on the record. Tracks like “Vertigo” have that perfect pop sensibility, velvety gentle lyrics, and cause the need to hit replay more than once.
