The Malvinas

The Malvinas, "I'm Not Like This" (3 Legged Dog)
Featuring Gina Forsyth on guitar, violin and vocals, Lisa Markley on dobro, guitar and vocals and Beth Cahill on mandolin, tenor guitar and vocals, the Malvinas play a style of folk-pop informed by Cajun music, blues, Celtic music and the Texas troubadour tradition. All three contributed songs to "I'm Not Like This." Throughout this engaging collection, the acoustic guitars ring true as the three voices intertwine for spot-on harmonies. More folk music should be this invigorated. - By Keith Spera - Music writer

If the cover art is any indication, maybe you can judge by a CD by its cover. The '20s era swimsuit-clad, leapfrogging women symbolizes the Malvinas' sisterhood affinity in the spirit of the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood while their moniker tributes '60s folkie Malvina Reynolds whose lighthearted songs are still socially relevant today.

These Malvinas-whose roster includes New Orleans' own Gina Forsyth-are socially conscious in their own right. Together with bards Beth Cahill and Lisa Markley, the folk-art trio stages an impressive song cycle that runs the gamut of their personalities. Their tunes are marked by such carefully-crafted lines as "[I] gave up red meat for you and you lied" that bathes in subtle irony as well as "You rise like a Cuban cigar" as heard on the discolored life view of "Sepia Tone."

Additionally, they're not above challenging their audience with such sacrosanct themes as a lesbian lusting after a nun ("Home of St. Francis") or suggesting that a Blessed Mother devotion is more than just spiritual ("Maria").
Hence, the Malvinas' strengths lay in their diversity, which makes for an engaging whole. Markley wraps her smoky pipes around the minor key, jazz-inflected "Resonate" while on "Picture Show," Markley and Cahill crescendo their soft, delicate harmonies into a climaxing gale force. Forsyth supplies cerebral fiddle backdrops that tastefully frame an arrangement. Markley lays down a catchy guitar groove on "Without U" that boasts another great image-inducing line: "You are the last drag on that final cigarette."

Somewhere up in the heavenly skies, a celestial Malvina must be smiling upon her earthy diamonds. - Dan Willging

These women take no prisoners! - review of "i'm not like this"

This CD swings with fine harmonies, lively rhythms, catchy melodies and clever lyrics. They have some fun at the expense of the Catholic Church with "Maria" and Forsyth's "Home of St. Francis," about a peculiar nun performed with a definite New Orleans twang.

The enjoyable aspect of this recording is that the tasty, but restrained production appeals to both folk and pop sensibilities. The songs themselves lean more towards pop, and in fact Markley's "Resonate" makes a great cabaret torch song. The Malvinas jointly produced the CD along with their engineer Andy Chiles.

If I had to pick a favorite, Forsyth's "Like This" from which they derived the title, is a most clever newly-fallen-in love song with some great plays on phrasing, which goes so far as to rhyme "come in handy" with "modus operandi".

In addition to fiddle, Forsyth plays guitar, Cahill plays tenor guitar and mandolin, Markley guitar, Dobro and percussion and Chiles contributes bass.

You'll find their enthusiasm and songs infectious. - Rich Warren

The important thing for the listener is that they make a fantastic blend of music when combined together into this unit. It is folk music that is both invigorating and innovative. - Bob Gottlieb

Appropriately irreverent but traditional all the same. Kicks the right ass!

- None