An artist who can plumb the depths of sadness in a single note, then release it in the very next breath, Chastity Brown melds folk, pop and soul on Silhouette of Sirens, weaving together a poet's lyrical ear and a raw soul-laid-bare quality. With an electrifying voice that thrums with emotion, she creates moods by layering her sprawling melodies over pulsing rhythms and soaring choruses.A product of two cultures, the Northeast and the South, she writes from the cultural experience and perspective of being a bi-racial woman; of being just as much one thing as the other ... the feeling of being within, yet apart. From the first track, the gorgeous slow build of Drive Slow, you're arrested by the raw ache of Brown's voice, which breaks with feeling as she sings, all my life, I was afraid of everything. The album's 10 original tracks introduce us to a new voice a songwriter of power and conviction who isn't afraid to bare her heart, singing of heartbreak, need and love. Wake Up, the first single, is a beat- heavy, minor key tune of longing where she sings, Wake up honey, love come on soon. Carried Away, propelled by her driving acoustic guitar, finds her singing look what you did to my heart before the chorus, you get carried away, then you fall. On the album's starkly beautiful centerpiece, the piano and strings-driven My Stone, she pleads, Don't leave me here all alone / For so long you've been my light in the dark, while on the sexy, Prince-channeling acoustic funk jam, Whisper, she beckons the listener to come closer, to dance with her in the dark, to whisper in my ear all that you need. Straddling worlds and musical genres, Brown's emotionally charged songs are unforgettable and transforming.
On Silhouette Of Sirens, Chastity Brown offers what she calls snapshots of memory, both lived and imagined .Fortunately, her life has been eventful enough brought up, bi-racial, in a trailer park by a loving mother and abusive stepfather, and now a self-proclaimed queer woman of colour to bring variety to her songs. Most, such as Wake Up and Whisper , are love-songs, snapshots of emotional moments in some of which, as she acknowledges in Drive Slow , what is even happening, one can only guess . They're driven by gently pulsing, simpatico arrangements of guitar, piano and ambient pads, only developing urgency and swagger in the rolling backbeat of Pouring Rain , where she admits, I only wanted you to miss me when I'm gone . The reflective tone of Carried Away is beautifully matched by the complex restraint of the backing, as is the seven-minute centrepiece My Stone , which coalesces magically from subtle tints and touches of sounds. --The Independent - 4/5
May 2017
