Boston singer-songwriter Linda Marks doesn’t hesitate to depict life in all of its glories or in all of its tragic moments. Her latest album Queen Of The Angels continues Marks’s quest to hold a mirror up to even the things we’d rather not think about as well as the things that inspire us greatly. She also continues to improve on all of her previous work as she moves forward with each recording. Her Queen Of The Angels is likely to gain her even greater recognition.
Opening title track “Queen Of The Angels” marries roots instruments to pop sensibilities. This proves a good formula here as Mark’s sweet, tender voice fits perfectly into this homey, flowing piece. This feels like something that could have been a singer-songwriter hit in the 1970s as Marks’ voice travels through a comfortable landscape.
“You’re Not Alone” fills the heart with Mark’s special delivery. She puts emphasis on the compassionate lyrics using a thicker vocal timbre. Being a duet with Dimitris Nezis thickens even further the warmth which with this song is sung. A breezy, sweeping motion carries all of the thoughtful lyrics and vocals forward like a gentle usher.
“Introvert” finds Marks’s voice as smooth and agile as the supporting violin melody just beneath her. For a song about an introvert, this one pours forth with a lot of feeling. That would be Mark’s sympathetic eye watching over the introvert. Marks can certainly move her voice with a lot of grace, becoming a precisely played instrument in and of itself. It’s in the way Marks uses her grace to paint the broad strokes of emotion, color, and motion that her songs so strong.
Mark’s piano ballad “Motherless Daughters, Fatherless Sons” becomes more than just an ode to those who were raised without a solid role model. Being a duet, this one with Amaru, doubles the voice, adding another layer of tenderness to the insight. Gentle rain drops of piano and sensitive bowing of violin create another well of emotion for this song. This song could reach deep into a listener even if it was an instrumental. It will probably end up being requested by a film or TV music supervisor for an appropriately selected project.
“Momma Cries” examines the life a child raised in poverty with all the sorrow of watching a parent struggling with the costs of life. Marks injects the song with thoughtful vocalization, just enough voice to let the listener feel the emptiness that parent lives with as her child observes. The music supporting the voice is like a soup thick with plenty of tasty nibbles, notes dotting the surface with a further flavoring.
Marks captures the playful nature of small animals who live in cute competition with one another in “Gardner’s Lament.” Marks, lyrically, pits a jack rabbit against a hedgehog. Jouncing string instruments and bouncy accordion lines perfectly capture the mischief making small creatures. Marks restrains her wiry vocal to wrap it around a fun rocking chair rhythm that makes this piece quite endearing.
A slight gypsy feel permeates “Hidden Bloodlines, Hidden Scars,” from violin notes coxed out and an old world melody from Doug Kwartler’s accordion. Marks moves her voice over the instrumentation like a gypsy dance, making a strong vocal assertion before pausing to make another. Sultry percussion adds to the exotic mix as Marks sustains her voice to put emphasis on tense dramatic pivots. There is so much history, human drama, and even suspense that this feels like an Oscar winner for best movie theme song.
“Dancing With God,” a personal and spiritual expression from Marks, feels like a dance in the way the music feels coupled together. That it’s a duet with Duncan Daniels furthers the sense of two presences. It’s clear who Marks dances with, making it sound like a friendship she can depend on, personalizing God and cleverly explaining her spiritual relationship. Her moments of vocal inflection and emphasis makes it feel like a love song as her voice doesn’t just make music, it also makes emotions as well as tone, setting, and message.
“Pain Changes Everything” recalls Mark’s bewildered and uncertain reaction to last year’s murder of a health insurance executive. Marks tries to get inside the head of the confused young gunman, a youth whose confused reaction to the horrors of the health insurance industry made him act out in an inappropriate manner, murder. Mark’s thoughtfulness shows itself in how she wraps her verses in warm colors and tones while the airy accompaniment beneath her voice expresses the complicated mess that resulted in this tragedy. It’s a sad song but more importantly it is sad because Marks unravels all of the mixed feelings people had about this crime.
“Another Teardown” explores developments that change the landscape of the personal memory. Marks manages to infuse this visage of disappointment with a charming swift rhythmic click, a seesaw motion that keeps interest in the adept players who make this happen. Mark’s considerate vocal pacing, just enough expression per meter, keeps the memories of what once was keenly in the forefront.
“It’s OK To Die” considers the beauty of life by focusing on a person who has made peace with her impending cancer death. Marks’ voice moves over this with a tasteful aplomb, neither overplaying or underplaying the emotional content of this theme. Smith Curry’s pedal steel work places a forlorn feeling in the backdrop that works wonders for this song.
Close out song “Will I Ever Get The Chance To Say Goodbye” lets Marks emote about friend who has moved away. Mark’s soft, affectionate timbre helps bring the meaning home and a tuft of pedal steel, violin, and cello entwine to thicken the appeal of this sensitive number, showing Marks’ ability to wrap a song up snug and warm with her voice and her ideas for accompaniment.
Marks continues to release quality singer-songwriter material. With each new album, Marks continuously improves upon her previous writing, singing, reaching ever higher ground. This Queen Of The Angels album is her finest work yet, a high shine sound bringing to life her gloriously expressed singer-songwriter vision.
