There’s a wonderfully icy bite to Margaret Glaspy’s debut album. California-born and raised, Glaspy swapped early prowess with the fiddle and trombone for the singer-songwriter beat and a relocation to first Boston (the Berklee College of Music beckoned) and now New York.
Glaspy manages to put clear water between her songs and the usual indie rock trappings which dog releases of this ilk. Tracks such as You and I, the title track and Pins and Needles shine with personality, intensity and a neat edge alongside the waves of her primal, distorted bluesy guitar lines and that voice, which can switch from tender to tormented in the blink of an eye.
Even with common themes of heartbreak and desire, Glaspy finds new toeholds in the material to push the songs on. A very special new talent.
