Published on Feb 27, 2001
Today we’re going to have a lesson in constructive criticism.
This is when you have to say something negative about a person or
an experience which was, for the most part, somewhat positive.
Today’s subject:
Modern Loneliness, the third independent release from
California-based singer/songwriter Carol Martini. This 17-song disc
suggests a lot of heartbreak and personal growth, but lacks full
musical development and variety that would make the listener want
to keep coming back again and again for more.
Wait a minute, you’re saying, I thought he said he was going to
be constructive. Patience, laddie.
Martini has a pleasant enough singing style, though she does
tend to stick to one particular means of delivering the goods
without wavering much. This does allow Martini to build a level of
familiarity with the listener – something which definitely proves
beneficial when listening to an otherwise “unknown” artist. But
this reliance on nearly singular-tone singing does hurt in the
long-term; by the time you get to songs like “I Survived Your
Leaving,” “Please Make The World Go Away” and “I’m Praying For
Rain,” you almost find youself wishing that Martini would do some
kind of improv style.
While her backup band – including co-producer Keith Lynch –
proves their talents (and sounds surprisingly crisp for an
independent CD), they too don’t offer terribly much in terms of
musical variety. Lynch does try to whip out an acoustic guitar riff
at the opening of “Love Kills Love,” but the momentum this
performance sets is quickly broken by falling back to the
tried-and-true band sound that makes up
Modern Loneliness. (Would adding a keyboard or two
occasionally hurt? Just a thought.)
This is all a shame – simply because, despite the subject
matters on some songs being darker than a solar eclipse,
Modern Loneliness isn’t a bad album at all. Martini shows
she has talent on songs like “Love Will Never Give Up On You,”
“Take Me To Love Again” and “Guess”. Granted, I don’t always want
to listen to songs which have more raw emotional nerves than a
support group meeting. But Martini somehow does make the listener
able to appreciate the songs and even cast a curious glimpse into
what sounds like more romantic upheavals than the comic strip
Cathy has ever documented.
Music is often said to be therapeutic. If this is the case and
the songs on this disc are based on real-life experiences,
Modern Loneliness must have saved Martini from many bills
from her psychiatrist. With a little more polish on her singing
style and songwriting skills, as well as the injection of more
variety into her backing band, she could well prove to be someone
worthy of note. As it sits now, this is a disc which shows promise,
but proves more development is needed. If that occurred, I’d be
more than willing to give her music another chance.