Samantha Crain: You (Understood)

Aug 032010

Listen to this.
Samantha Crain: You (Understood)
2010, Ramseur Records / Thirty Tigers

Samantha Crain’s voice is a star. She doesn’t sing in your typical Billie Holiday-faked warble, though she does have a throatiness that might remind you of that cliché. She also doesn’t bubble and brim with bubbly glee, the other major trend for most female singer-songwriters at the moment. What she offers is earnest songwriting with a rustic flair that is indicative of her Oklahoma roots, yet doesn’t pander to VH1 or the former staff writers of No Depression. These are songs that are real and it shows.

As with most of the roots revival music coming from the southwest, there is some legitimate proficiency on You (Understood). Crain’s band is as much a part of this record as she is, managing subtle flavors of indie rock beneath the rustic songwriting of Crain. You (Understood) could have quickly become just another vanilla note in the rapidly-expanding menu of singer-songwriters putting out rustic songwriting, but Crain’s band is a competent backup to Crain’s distinctive vocal style.

Without a doubt, “We Are the Same,” a quiet acoustic number, is the standout track of this record because of Crain’s powerful vocals played against her delicately plucked acoustic guitar. But there’s a greatness that is bursting from Crain that is featured in other tracks like “Lions” and “Santa Fe” because she doesn’t go for the female songwriter jugular by picking on every track on the record. Crain develops her lyrics carefully here with her music, allowing for a subtle delivery that doesn’t push Crain toward a vocal warble. Surely, acts like Bosque Brown and Sarah Jaffe have utilized the vocal warble brilliantly over the past five years, but Crain’s real skill is her phrasing.

“Santa Fe” comes across particularly strong in this regard. Crain uses a sing-songy rhyme in the last syllables of each line that works on every level–rustic, yet not cliche–a device for managing rhythm and evoking a sense of time. This is where I want to see Crain live as a singer-songwriter, managing the elements of song against the meter of the lyric. It is in these moments that Crain’s band shines and the songs just saunter swiftly in and out of the listener’s ear effortlessly, and Crain is able to soar.

Cover and Mp3s via eMusic