Marie Black

Twentyomething years ago, sandwiched between North Beach girlie clubs and smokey jazz joints, tiny clubs spawned the folk acts that soon grew from underground buzz to legendary status. Once again, the Bay Area is a hothouse for a new wave of folkies, like singer/songwriter Marie Swan. Her sultry voice, smooth and sweet as honey, is a perfect foil to her bittersweet songs of love gone bad. Her recent release, Saints, weighs heavily with country and blues influences, somewhere between Melissa Etheridge and the Indigo Girls. She plays at a pro-choice benefit this Sunday. Check SF Weekly listings for details. - San Francisco Weekly

Marie Swan has been doing the press rounds locally with an interesting release of what strikes me as very personal, very listenable material, Saints. The CD is released on her own (get this spelling right) foolishflokmusik label and wes recorded in San Francisco, then mastered at Terra Nova in Ausin. Marie has spent some serious time on the west coast honing her skills and performing at various venues. Recently, she's been delighting local audiences with her own brand of, shall we say, "folk-rock" but plans on returning to SF sometime this month, citing a lack of paying gigs for local acoustic artists.

Her voice reminds many a critic of the Indigo Girls meets Melissa Etheridge with its unique blend of heartbreak & defiance. This lends well to lyrics which seem so lived-through and personal.

Various musician/friends guest on the CD (which seems to get better song after song) while Swan mans the acoustic guitar. The title track, "Saints," is a good introduction as to what Marie is capable of with that voice of hers and is the first strong track on the disc. "It's Your Heart" is the most "Austin" song of the lot with its funk induced groove and vocal stylings reminiscent of bands like 2 Nice Girls. Next is "Crossfire," one of the most poignant songs of unrequited love to come along in a while. Its mix of strength, anger, and melancholy is truly indicative of Swan's terrific ability to express such emotions in song. Of the ten tracks on the disc, the final, "Maybe Never," is the perfect way to end. It begins soft and defenseless and extends into a strong and proud rocker. Fitting, as Marie Swan strikes me as the type of person who definitely goes out kickin'. - Austin Music

Black’s deep vibrato and confident delivery could distinguish her in the femme-folk-rock sweepstakes - by Jeff Rosenberg

“Drop Of Love” is the initial track on “Water Me”, and this track has a humanity to it that a number of major-label releases are seemingly unable to have. The vocals on “Drop Of Love” are approachable to a degree that is simply not heard in most current music, and the resulting Marie Black track is something that draws heavily on the vocal history established by individuals like Janis Joplin, Ani DiFranco, and Tori Amos. However, rather than be in that trio’s collective shadow, Black is able to bring something new to the table.

Contrary to a number of female singer-songwriters, who tend towards having fairly lackadaisical musical arrangements on their CD (making their vocals stronger by comparison), the tracks on “Water Me” have a battle back and forth between the vocals and the instrumentation. This means that the quality of a “Stray Animals” or “Amphibian” is simply delightful, and each guitar line, drum beat, or piano arrangement is just as impressive as Black’s own formidable vocals. The title track has a tempo that distinguishes it from the rest of the disc; the slower, sluggish style of the instrumentation here is deliberate, allowing Black’s vocals to attain a level of emotion that will affect anyone that may be listening. “Flowered Gun” is a straight-forward rock track, drawing heavily on the psychedelic genre while still having something to say to younger listeners.

Black’s vocals pull double-duty here in that they convey lyrics as well as providing some additional harmony to the arrangements on the track. The desire of Black to challenge preconceived notions of proper time signatures (heard as well on “Flowered Gun”) further establishes “Water Me” as a “one of kind” type of album. The heavier, harder approach of “Flowered Gun” mellows out for “Hollywood Stage”, but the one constant between the two tracks (as well as the rest of the tracks on “Water Me”) is a quality that does not waiver. Any track, whether it be “One Night Stand” or “Wrecking Ball”, could conceivably rocket up radio charts. Purchase “Water Me” and hear some entertaining rock that has no easy comparison; Marie Black is impressive when it comes to crafting a unique-yet-approachable disc.

Top Tracks: Amphibian, Stray Animals

Rating: 8.0/10 - NeuFutur Magazine