Album Notes

Refreshing "Marce" bares soul

In a world of music dominated by studio-produced shams constantly forced down our throats, FIU's own Marcela Piñeros' first album, Marce, is a refreshing reminder of what true talent really is. Like Jewel's debut Pieces of You, Marce is a collection of soulful folk ballads suffused with an underdog charm. Substituting big studio glitter with raw talent, Piñeros puts together a solid album that reminds us why the independent music industry merits our support. (The album is available only through her site, www.marcesmusic.com.)

The twelve tracks consist mostly of vocals and guitar and demonstrate Piñeros' innate lyrical ability that despite an impressive debut, seems to have only broken the surface. "Imperfection," "The Critic's Song" and "Drowning in a Tear Drop," a one and half minute flash of precocious folk wisdom ("sitting high on the edge of madness/don't look up cause the sun will blind you"), are each self-reflective ballads with a somewhat conversational structure reminiscent of the almost rambling sagacity of Ani Difranco.

In "D is for Denial," Piñeros deals with the issue of domestic violence and manages to pull off the use of the alphabet theme without sounding childish by coupling it with a good melody and poetic lyrics like: "In a dimly lit room you see her stripped down to the truth/Playing songs on a stringless guitar that reminds her of her youth." Rather than seeming sensationalist, the song creates an interesting parallel between domestic violence and stifled youth.

Staying true to her folk style, Piñeros' becomes an avid storyteller in many of the songs, including "Lunch" and "Anyway" which are each brief tales of love - finding it, losing it, and all the baggage in between.

Although not perfect (an idea which Piñeros seems to have no qualms about if the song "Imperfection" is any indication), Marce is an impressive debut and display of musical talent. But it's the fact that the album is not perfect that gives it so much of its charm. We're so surrounded by packaged "artists" that we try to perfect someone until they become nothing but a shell of marketing tactics. Marcela Piñeros is not a packaged performer and Marce is no one else's but her own. It's refreshing to see someone take a chance and bare herself, her talents and her imperfections, so fully and sincerely that we can lose ourselves in something real and filled with the kind of hope that reminds us that anything is possible.


By Vanessa Lopez / Assistant Opinion Editor
Published in "THE BEACON" May 7,2002