I would agree that this CD is a little gem.  My bias comes from having seen Annie Lin in person.  She was great, and so is this excellent recording.  One of MY favorites of the year as well.
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"East Coast Songs" is Annie Lin's best work yet. The album is an amazing leap in a new direction from Lin's previous recordings. Songs like "Blessed", "The Day After Christmas" and "Where I Begin" truly display this songwriter's ability to convey the joy and beauty, and hardships and hardaches, of her personal trials. "XO, Me" alone builds to one of the the most beautiful choruses I have ever heard. The ablum also shows Annie Lin's ability to objectively weave a tale through her music in songs like "Nova Scotia" and "Photographic Memories". Annie's unique voice combined with her edgy guitar playing, and backed by bass and drums makes this record a must have for anyone who carries a passion for indie singer-songwriters.
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Lyrically, Annie's taken a savvy turn for the introspective, which makes "East Coast Songs" far more accessible than previous efforts.  The lyric sheets that read like academic exercises have been replaced with solid pop songcraft honed, it would seem, by countless cross-country voyages.

Annie's CDBABY description might be a bit off -- if you're looking for "rock 'n' roll ferocity", look elsewhere; because of her percussive guitar stylings, Annie's always been compared to Ani, but the jazz and punk stylings that make Ms. DiFranco so daring are lacking here.  That's not a bad thing for those who like their singer-songwriters in the traditional mold.

Still, the band adds a lot of dynamics that were missing on "Kicking Stars".  "Nova Scotia" is easily the most beautiful songs in Annie's catalogue, with a great cello introduction.  "An Honest Face", while perhaps the weakest song on the album, has a rhythmic groove that wouldn't be possible without the backing musicians to give it life.  "Photographic Memories" first appeared on "Kicking Stars", but this is the definitive version.

The best measure of an album is when you put it through it's paces in the CD player and realize it's too short -- that you want more by that artist.  "East Coast Songs" is one of those records, one that sets the bar higher, and has everybody waiting for the next studio album.
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If you grew up a pop-savvy girl in the 90s, you will likely recall Juliana Hatfield, poster girl for Generation X angst, and Lisa Loeb, who forever proved that folk aesthetics and nerdy glasses don't negate someone's identity as a rock 'n' roll sex symbol. 

Annie Lin (Baker '02) is the kind of girl who must have grown up listening to Juliana and Lisa. Her sweet, almost child-like vocals call up Hatfield's charm, while her no-holds-barred approach to folk takes cues from Loeb's aggressive acoustic sound.

In addition to picking up a manager who is currently shopping a demo tape in the hopes of landing a recording contract, Lin has produced a slick sophomore album, East Coast Songs, (also on Ariadne) full of intelligent, poetic lyrics sung to bright acoustic folk-pop.

The sound is much more polished than on Lin's earlier album and her Math Pope demo: Her voice rarely, if ever, sounds strained and is never drowned out by her musical accompaniment. While no track on the album, recorded in a twelve-hour stretch on a Friday night, is unpleasant, the normally clever lyrics are occasionally a little pretentious.

The opening track, "Blessed" has an infectious chorus as Lin repeats, "Here is another year/eat the cake ask for another/here is another year" in addition to clever lyrics like "If you're looking for nirvana in suburban real estate I encourage you to wait." The track is a song for college students shuffling between home and school too many times.

Second on the album, "The Day After Christmas" is more melodic, but not nearly as inventive, and "XO, Me" is romantic-comedy soundtrack fodder in a pleasant, but melancholy vein. "Cut Out the Skyline" goes back to the more aggressive style of the first track, which works better with Lin's lyrics and guitar style. While on the surface "Photographic Memories" is a good listen, the lyrics don't meet the standards Lin's other songs have set for her.

The best track on the album closes it. "Where I Begin" speaks perfectly to a sense of rootlessness: "I can't take you back to my old house/they changed the locks while I was gone/and I can't figure out what I am doing in the driveway with my shoes untied again ... and I'm home again." The song is sweet and wistful and proves perfectly Lin's ability as a songwriter. The track should be the bar against which any other song she writes is measured.
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