Mars Arizona

"Hello Cruel World is a bright spot on the Americana landscape. The San Francisco-based singer-songwriter duo of Paul Knowles and Nicole Storto manages to find the proverbial silver lining of good music while also conveying an overall sense of global disillusionment. The album's tasteful musical arrangements and spot-on harmony vocals are complemented by guest appearances from Al Perkins on pedal steel and David Grisman on mandolin. Along with thought-provoking original compositions, the duo also impresses by putting its own unique spin on songs from a broad range of artists including Neil Young ("Time Fades Away") and T. Rex ("By The Light Of A Magical Moon")." (Greg Yost) - No Depression Magazine

"Mars Arizona takes yesteryear's cosmic American music and kisses new life into an old vision." - Cafe Du Nord

"Led primarily by singer Nicole Storto, songs such as "Promise Me Nothing" and the soulful yet winding "Voyeur" seem to fly off the disc, bringing Natalie Merchant and Liz Phair immediately to mind. What is most interesting is how they straddle the line between contemporary rock and an Americana sound... a rather lovely album." - Pop Matters

"While I've done a little bit of traveling in my time, I've never happened upon anything quite like Mars Arizona in my travels, musical and otherwise... I not only want to hear more from the band but would also like to live there for awhile." - Freight Train Boogie

Mars Arizona melds a roots, alt-country and rock sound that flows well from song to song through the versatility of main songwriter Paul Knowles. Lead vocalist and co-writer Nicole Storto at times sings with the hush and lilt of Sundays vocalist Harriet Wheeler, but with the added grit of Concrete Blondes Johnette Napolitano. - Miles Of Music

The second full-length release for Bay Area alt. country band Mars Arizona isn’t as scattered as the title suggests. In fact, All Over The Road is a decidedly more focused roots record than their debut, on which they were covering Kurt Weill and Concrete Blonde. Now it’s Buck Owens, Gillian Welch and John Lennon, all in relatively simple acoustic folk arrangements that nestle comfortably amidst the band’s original material, much of which finds the band's two main forces, Paul Knowles and Nicole Storto, keeping things well-harmonized and porch friendly. After the two opening roots rockers, the train drivin’ title track and the chooglin’ “Shadows On The Wall”, things get intimate and rural with plenty of twangy acoustic guitar tunes enhanced with fiddle from Chad Manning, Dobro and mandolin from Emory Joseph and drums from the legendary Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson).
– Miles Of Music
- Mile of Music

Knowing that "Mars, Arizona" is a mythical locale helps explain the appeal of this duo (who, while currently residents of the Bay Area, did actually meet while in Arizona). It's a distinctively cosmic Americana vibe that Paul Knowles and Nicole Storto unleash on their second album, a wide-open country/folk/rock sound currently being explored by the likes of Johnny Irion and Sarah Lee Guthrie but which stretches all the way back to Gram and Emmylou.

The record kicks off in high style with the hard-twangin' title track, co-written by Knowles and Storto, about a "psychedelic cowboy" guru who zips from town to town and from honky tonk to honky tonk, in the process turning his disciples on to everything "from Waylon to Bottle Rockets"; between Knowles' blistering slide guitar solo and guest drummer Kenny Aronoff's precision overdrive, the tune's nothing less than an asphalt-scorcher. Other highlights include Knowles' Steve Forbert-like "Shadows On The Wall" and his atmospheric, Tom Pettyish confessional "He Broke Your Heart" plus Storto's sweet, fiddle-driven "Pretty Mama, Pretty Girl" (harmonizing with herself, she sounds uncannily like a young/old Lucinda Williams). And a pair of choice covers reveals a couple of key influences for the group: the Buck Owens/Harlan Howard weeper "Excuse Me, I Think I've Got A Heartache" locates Mars Arizona halfway between Bakersfield and Nashville, while John Lennon's "Working Class Hero" -- here, thanks to Chad (David Grisman band) Manning's edgy fiddle, even more scabrous than the original - needs neither introduction nor explanation.

Originally calling themselves Drowning Noah and stoked equally on Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins, Knowles and Storto began playing out in '99, eventually adopting a more evocative moniker and recording their debut, Love Songs From The Apocalypse, in 2002. Based on the evidence presented by All Over The Road, these two have a long, fruitful career looming. If you feel inclined to head out in search of Mars Arizona, the only highway map you'll need is the one in your musical imagination. - Fred Mills - Stomp and Stammer - Atlanta

One of the reasons alt-country became so popular in the late '90s was that a lot of modern-rock fans grew tired of arcane, poetic love songs that were essentially about nothing. When Bottle Rockets howled about thousand-dollar cars, that was a relatable gripe, and now when Mars Arizona co-leaders Nicole Storto and Paul Knowles sing about a roaming, lonely man on "Streets Of Milwaukee," their sketch's directness is lacking in other corners of the pop universe. Storto and Knowles describe a motley assortment of broken people on Mars Arizona's second LP, All Over The Road, aided by unfussy guitar-picking and straight-ahead rhythms. The Bay Area duo has some dilettantish traits: When they cover the Harlan Howard/Buck Owens classic "Excuse Me, I Think I've Got A Heartache," they do so with a somber reverence that's more tourist than resident. But Mars Arizona is also capable of forging its own space in Americana, via songs like the casual rocker "He Broke Your Heart," where sweetly buzzing guitar counteracts Knowles' bitter words. - The Onion

Sep/Oct 2005
Reviews
Rants & Faves

Mars Arizona
All Over the Road
By Robert Baird

This duo of guitarist/singers Paul Knowles and Nicole Storto, once known as Drowning Noah, says their new name refers to where “Southern gospel hangs out in the Devil’s House.” That’s a daunting amalgam but one they’re able to back up, thanks to production values vastly superior to that found on their debut, 2003’s Love Songs From the Apocalypse, and more intelligent choices when it comes to covers, which receive solid readings: a geared-down, unplugged Buck Owens- Harlan Howard honky tonk weeper, “Excuse Me, I Think I’ve Got a Heartache,” John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero” and “Elvis Presley Blues” by this duo’s most obvious models, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. But unlike that pair, who instinctually hew to a funereal pace, Knowles and Storto aren’t afraid of electricity, as demonstrated on their cowritten title tune opener and Knowles’ Son Volt-esque “Shadow’s on the Wall.” - Harp Magazine

The population of Mars Arizona is small, just two guitar-pickin' singer-songwriters: Nicole Storto and Paul Knowles. But on their new album, they've got a lot of talented neighbors dropping by, including mandolin guru David Grisman, pedal steel and dobro ace Al Perkins, and classical/country fiddler Alisa Rose. Hello Cruel World finds the San Francisco band firmly ensconced in the rootsy alt.americana sound it began exploring on 2005's All Over the Road, marked by the duo's solid songwriting and understated arrangements. Storto opens things up with "Dirty Town," her chilling voice full of repressed violence and heartache. Rose contributes a swinging Texas-meets-Paris violin solo, and Grisman's supplies his usual subtle mastery on mandolin. "Landscape," dedicated to the city of New Orleans, showcases Perkins' blues-drenched pedal steel, complementing Knowles' gruff, distressed vocals. On "Circus," Knowles compares the country to a sideshow full of clowns who dance while ecological disaster approaches, singing in a weary tone that intensifies the bleak lyrics.

Knowles and Storto also are adept at wringing unexpected changes out of their cover tunes. They turn the early T. Rex fairy frolic "By the Light of a Magical Moon" into a bouncy honky-tonk anthem. Storto delivers an aching lead vocal on "Blue Kentucky Girl," tipping her hat to Loretta Lynn and Emmylou Harris without emulating either. Perkins drops some teary dobro fills into the mix while Rose's fiddle cries in the background. And "In the Pines" gets a stark, folky, bare-bones treatment highlighted by the duo's wailing, wordless harmonies. - East Bay Express