All heart: Catie Curtis is anything but coy with her emotions on her latest CD.Dreaming in Romance Languages Catie Curtis * Vanguard In her 15 years as an acoustic-pop scribe, Catie Curtis has displayed a penchant for highly accessible lyrics. This skill includes her ability to evoke the universal feeling of a crush, that slightly nauseating mix of fear, excitement, and utter vulnerability. In "It's the Way You Are," a beguiling, radio-ripe effort on Curtis's latest CD, Dreaming in Romance Languages, the Saco, Maine-bred singer-guitarist admits, "You are everything I could never be," a gushing, blushing compliment that could be voiced by virtually anyone in love. More important, however, has been the out Boston-based performer's obvious crush on the admits spirit--a good thing since her trade is folk music, which at its core should have that hopefulness. The trams on Dreaming offer a more weathered yet no less optimistic take, with Curtis remarking, "All the angels that I love, they don't hang out above / They come down to deliver," in "Deliver Me." Broken by life's battles, their wings thick with grime, Curtis's angels and their charges-evertheless make it through. With elite members of the Boston songwriters posse--including Mark Erelli and Jennifer Kimball--on backing vocals, Curtis's nimble alto measures multiple moods, from the pained contrition con·tri·tion n. Sincere remorse for wrongdoing; repentance. See Synonyms at penitence. Noun 1. contrition - sorrow for sin arising from fear of damnation contriteness, attrition she voices to her lover in "Hold On" to the lonely soul-mining in "Saint Lucy." Curtis's core musicians include keyboardist Julie Wolf, who alternates between heavy, elongated e·lon·gate tr. & intr.v. e·lon·gat·ed, e·lon·gat·ing, e·lon·gates To make or grow longer. adj. or elongated 1. Made longer; extended. 2. Having more length than width; slender. notes and finger-flying exuberance. Longtime band-mate Jimmy Ryan lends a nimble mandolin mandolin (măn'dəlĭn`, măn`dəlĭn'), musical instrument of the lute family, with a half-pear-shaped body, a fretted neck, and a variable number of strings, plucked with the fingers or with a plectrum. , plucking puckishly puck·ish adj. Mischievous; impish: a puckish grin; puckish wit. puck  ish·ly adv. on some cuts, adding aggrieved, reverberating re·ver·ber·ate v. re·ver·ber·at·ed, re·ver·ber·at·ing, re·ver·ber·ates v.intr. 1. To resound in a succession of echoes; reecho. 2. strums to others. Curtis has always distinguished herself in the hard-bitten music world by forsaking irony and cynicism. Candor, warmth, and just the right touch of schmaltz schmaltz also schmalz n. 1. Informal a. Excessively sentimental art or music. b. Maudlin sentimentality. 2. Liquid fat, especially chicken fat. betray her--she's not one of the cool kids. To hang with Catie you don't need to be a superstar, just a genuine person with the occasional existential crisis. Tucker has also written for the New York Press New York Press is a free alternative weekly in New York City. It is the main competitor to the Village Voice. and Time Out New York. |
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