Very nice emotional release
author: Cynthia Lombard, KFJC On-Line Reviews
San Francisco musician and poet (she’s even credentialed with a Master’s degree in Poetics) Marina Lazzara puts out a nice debut. It’s just her voice and guitar, laid down in one day on 4-track by Ernesto Diaz-Infante. It ranges from jangly to fuzzy and pissed off, with underlying break-up and bad-world-events part of her thematic inspiration. Some songs were composed before the recording session, whereas others were improvised, although you’d be hard-pressed to figure out which is which. Very nice emotional release.
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Quite an interesting set of songs...
author: Jerry Kranitz, Aural Innovations
I'm not familiar with musician and poet Marina Lazzara's work, but I couldn't wait to spin this CD after reading in the promo sheet about "noise folk" and "where experimental meets the song". Sure my tastes tend toward the strange and freaky, but I still enjoy a well written song and a pleasing melody. So anyone who attempts to bring those worlds together is going to arouse my interest. After a bit of drifting noise, a guitar begins to strum a pleasant melody and Marina starts to sing. Recorded in a single afternoon in Ernesto Diaz- Infante & Marjorie Sturm's living room, the music has a lo-fi but heartfelt quality. Marina has a beautiful voice and her acoustic guitar strumming is simple but entrancing. Noise patterns serve a transitional role between some of the songs, providing part of the album's experimental edge. Other than that the first several tracks seem fairly accessible. I like the slightly winding phased guitar efx heard on "Words, Birds, Sun Stickers and a Road", which take the song into an otherworldly dimension. But starting with "The Backdrop Line" the music devolves into heavy sonic aggression with a harsh stoner guitar dirge that backs Marina's vocals. Ditto for the next track, "Ferris Wheel Song". Wow, those took me pleasantly by surprise. But Marina continues to bounce around, having torn up the listeners insides a bit she soon returns to the melodic acoustic folk that opened the album. Quite an interesting set of songs. It doesn't work consistently throughout the album, but I did come away from it feeling like I'd heard something a bit different.
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This is a fascinating collection of songs...
author: Anna Maria Stjärnell, Collected Sounds Women In Music
This is a fascinating collection of songs by poet and songwriter Lazzara. She sings in an artlessly disarming way and plays the guitar quietly but intensely. "Flower Tree" is a minimal yet strong song. "Words, Birds, Sun Stickers and a Road" is a quieter take on Patti Smith's rock poetry. The static hiss of "Sun on The Moon" is accompanied by words of pure whimsy. "Ferris Wheel Song" has a dark ambience to it. "Blue Fish Bowl" is abrasive yet restrained. This album is probably not for everyone but adventurous souls will adore it.
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