Sometimes it seems at the dawn of the alternative music era some giant trounced across America dropping tiny seeds that would soon grow into a new chic style of musical performers. Well, those seeds have blossomed and swarms of female singer/songwriters with songs to sing and stories to tell are invading radio stations and record stores.
November 17, 1997
So Massachusetts native Kacy Crowley’s debut album Anchorless easily could be dismissed as just another effort from a girl with a guitar who has a few songs to sing about relationships or adolescence. Which, I guess, is why the album is so easily dismissed.
And that is not saying female singer/songwriters have to create ground-breaking albums every time they enter a recording studio, but they should try and differentiate themselves a bit.
Crowley does offer some original work displaying shards of creative potential. The Sheryl Crow-ish Hand to Mouthville suggests the singer’s flair for shrewd and subtle storytelling (Love is scattered and hungry/but it is the only real thing/We hold it tight, for better or worse tonight).
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Crowley’s ethereal voice shines on the poppy Melancholy Bridge. Crowley looked for inspiration from main influence John Mellencamp for Singers are Ugly and Bottlecap, and the tunes propose inherent capabilities in her acoustic guitar work.
The rush of female singer/songwriters is making it a tough market for newcomers, but Crowley demonstrates on Anchorless that musical talent is present in about half of her songs.
But when compiled, the songs fail to break the familiar girl-with-a-guitar mold, much less offer anything ground-breaking.
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