Tanya Brody, Not Your Average...Anything (Tanya Brody, 2004)
First let me say Tanya Brody has got some style going on. A rock-n-roll chick with tattoos and a harp? That's just plain cool. I wanted to like her music based on her individualistic look and eclectic accomplishments alone (she's a harper/singer/songwriter). There's a nice photo of Brody in boots and a kilt, guitar in one hand and harp in the other, on The Muses Web site. The Muses consist of Brody and her husband Matthew Gurnsey. Gurnsey, according to the site, is the sound engineer and graphic designer for Tanya's solo recordings, as well as backup for her live gigs.
Unfortunately, after winning me over with her look and her concept, Brody lost me in her actual recording.
Not Your Average...Anything is a good effort. It attempts to capture the spirit of traditional folk genre, drawing on Celtic styling and presentation and adding original lyrics and music to the mix. It's got a nice variety of supporting instruments on different tracks: violin, drums, bass, recorder, mandolin and keyboards provide nice backup for Brody's vocals. Sadly, the vocals themselves, and sometimes the lyrics, fail to carry off the album. Brody's voice doesn't have the strength or control to sustain consistently successful delivery. The result sometimes sounds thin, sometimes forced. The CD as a whole may have worked better had it been purely instrumental.
The two best songs are a nice short round of "God save Our Queen" (without instruments, with nice vocal harmonizing) and the final track, a traditional-style drinking song, "Health to the Company." The faster pace and support of group backup vocals lend this last piece a little more solidity. Michael Gartner is credited with "scat and vocals" on "Health to the Company," and I found the tiny inclusion of scat intriguing and very successful in this non-jazz context.
Ms. Brody gives thanks on this self-produced album (not her first) to many friends, and that's the environment in which I can best picture enjoying her work; small venues filled with friends and neighbors, in true folk tradition. The Muses seem to play most frequently at public libraries. In a library or candle-lit living room or local pub, perhaps a wedding, I could see this being perfectly comfortable as live performance. I wish it could have been more satisfying as a set of recordings on Not Your Average...Anything.
But do check out the discography link on The Muses' Web site. There, you can listen to the first track of the album, "Any Child's Lullaby." Here's Brody's voice at its best, and if you like it, you can buy the CD right from the site.
