Album Notes

A Billboard "Critics Choice" pick!

Downtown New York-based singer/songwriter Mary Ann Farley debuts with an album that showcases her sharp songwriting, her ear for clever arrangements, and a voice that runs the gamut from a vulnerable quaver to a full-throated wail--sometimes in the same line...Whether supported by a full band or just her guitar, Farley comes across as a vital new talent.

—Paul Verna, Billboard (Critics' Choice pick)

Daddy's Little Girl easily leads the pack in disturbing analyses of boy/girl culture... Now composing on guitar, Farley's moved away from Kate Bush riffs and discovered a bold grace that ignores airy-faeries in favor of scary monsters.

—J.R. Taylor, New York Press

New Jersey's own Ani DiFranco presents a bittersweet blast at the shackles of love, work and image... This Hoboken songstress' bittersweet look at the absurdities of life makes her independent debut disc, Daddy's Little Girl, as good as anything heard at Lilith Fair.

—Robert Makin, Best Female Artist, 1997 in The Courier News, Bridgewater, NJ

Waifish girl-rock has become an overcrowded field [but] Mary Ann Farley stands apart from this parade of adenoids...Indeed, her songs are about waifishness, and they explore the territory with a dragging nonchalance that is both engaging and chilling. The arrangements alternate between lush and spare in a method reminiscent of Siouxie and the Banshees, with repeated allusions to feminine malevolence...A rich and satisfying record start to finish.

—Mark Keating , #4 in Sound Views, New York, NY

Mary Ann Farley won't sit still. This evening found her reincarnated from the synthed-up Motown Gothic of her '93 debut EP into a tight, cathartic folk. Solo or accompanied by lean percussion and lonely violin, Farley's essentialist guitar anchors subtly stunning vocal improv. An impressive array of swoops, trills, ragged edges and melodic vocalese spikes her rich timbre with the risk that makes virtuosity worth having. What links her past musical life and this one is an intrepid embrace of the unexpected. She won't stand still, but she does stand her ground.

Adam McGovern, Smug Magazine, review of show at Meow Mix (NYC)

With her edgy soprano and bold arrangements, adding a spicy cabaret flavor to her haunting folk-pop, Farley creates in each song a distinct little world where joy and peril live hand in hand.

Ben Horowitz, The Star-Ledger, Newark NJ

See all reviews here:
http://www.maryannfarley.com/index_files/pressdlg.htm