It was a few years back when I first heard the musical musings of Liz Clark, sitting solo behind a keyboard and commanding everyone’s attention with a slice of humor, a handful of romantic ash and a voice that sunk deeply under the skin.
Years later Hand On Stove arrives, fresh from Clark’s new Brooklyn roots and still retaining that heated feel. “Hurricane” seems to recall the trials and tribulations of dating a musician, something than more than a few can relate to, and the musical cathartic moods continue on “Something I Can Live Without” and “Be A Man” where self induced therapy takes place in a bathroom phone booth of a “shitty ass bar.”
Even when she sings of pouring raining and “life’s a problem to be solved,” the effects are warm and sunny, deeply emotional but without anything remotely fluffy. If I were to pick a single from Hands…it would have to be “Soft Side,” which collides with a hefty dose of twang and dusty road, rock and roll beauty.
These days Liz Clark is a fixture in the local music scene as a resident of Whiskeybreath, a weekly party at Laila Lounge in Williamsburg. From the sounds of Hand On Stove and at only 23, she’s got quite a bright future ahead of her.
