Customer Reviews

Stromata

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Charlotte Martin apparently spent a long time in the studio for this album. Sometimes, so much studio time can make an album devoid of emotion. While this album has a lot more electronic sounds and sound effects than previous releases, the emotion is cranked up even higher than her major-label album, On Your Shore.

Comparisons with Tori Amos are unavoidable for Martin, simply because she has piano-based rock with vocals and lyrics that reveal powerful, raw, and scary emotions. However, where Amos has a reputation for alienating listeners with confusing lyrics, absent melodies, and seemingly directionless piano noodling, Martin's song have strong hooks and stronger rhythms. While Amos experimented with electronic sounds (most notably on "From the Choirgirl Hotel"), Martin's experimentation is more akin to the unusual music palette of Björk (and Martin has a voice that is much more accessible). Nothing against Amos or Björk--they're two of my favorite artists--but Stromata is a more complete, more emotionally powerful album than just about anything I've ever heard.

Some listeners might be put off by some of the electronic percussion that sound like ProTools presets, but the electronics are used to maximum effect here. The first two tracks ("Stromata" and "Cut the Cord") are dark and driving--excellent driving music, and it's easy to get lost in the dark emotions in these tracks. The hooks are often not obvious, but the songs leave you wanting to listen to them again--I fully expect that this album will continue to get better with each listen. Other songs, such as "Little Universe" and "Pills" are more experimental--it may take repeated listenings to get used to them. "The Dance" is another outstanding track, reminding some of a good experimental David Byrne song. The tracks "Redeemed" and "A Hopeless Attempt", in a lesser musician's hands, might drag. With Martin's instrumentation--the electric piano on "A Hopeless Attempt", the bongos and church organ (!) on "Redeemed"--and emotional vocal delivery, however, these are two of the strongest songs on the album.

On Your Shore was a powerful, moving album, and one of my favorite releases of the last decade. I find it hard to believe, but Martin has surpassed On Your Shore with Stromata. Do yourself a favor: buy this album and spend a few hours with it.

Charlotte Martin's second record, "Stromata" is much different from "On Your Shore," but just as good. Charlotte continues her foray into the electronic world which she began on her first EP "Test Drive Songs" back in 2002.

The album begins with "Stromata", the most powerful song on the album, with mysterious lyrics and harsh, thrashing vocals.

"Cut the Cord" smashes in with resonant tribal drum beats and a crazy rocking sensibility.

"Drip" follows with flowing keyboard/piano work and tounge-twister lyrics.

"Little Universe" is the most experimental song on the album, and she definitely gets her Bjork on here. Listen to this song with headphones. It's a sonic and epic journey.

"Civilized" is rocking with fast piano work reminiscent of Fiona Apple and Ben Folds. You get to hear angry Charlotte in this song too: "Why can't we keep this civilized? / Why can't the girl just shut her mouth?"

"A Hopeless Attempt" is a lullabye-like song that will bring the well-versed fan back to "Bones," the second track from her 2005 EP "Veins."

"Four Walls" is the most accessible song on the album, with a catchy chorus and dance-inducing beats.

"Inch" is a piano ballad that she's played live many times before finally releasing it, and it's as good as it always was. I could do without the dream-like guitar in the background though.

"Keep Me In Your Pocket" is a fun, clap-along song with a great chorus.

The album takes a bit of a downhill slip at this point, which is why I give the album 4 stars. "Pills" is a cute, playful song with lyrics like "Pills that make the boys a little frisky / Pills the help the girls fight PMS". Kind of a throw back to the live, loosen-the-crowd-up songs like "I'm Normal, Please Date Me" and "Uncomfortable Things." But it probably would have been better suited as a b-side, because it kind of interrupts the flow of the album.

"Just Before Dawn" shows off her classically trained opera skills. Impressive, but I find myself skipping it most of the time.

"Cardboard Ladders" is a thought-provoking song whose lyrics are the most important element, but aside from the beautiful bridge, musically this song is a little boring.

Charlotte brings it back with "The Dance," which is THE song of the album, and most Charlotte Martin fans will agree with me, with echoeing drums and soaring vocals.

"Redeemed" is another live-favorite that finally got a studio version, and is a great note to end the album on.

All in all, this is a wonderful album. Buy it. For the record though, while I love and am very impressed with Charlotte as an experimental artist and producer, I hope the third album has a little bit more acoustic piano songs, because that's what made me fall in love with her on "On Your Shore."

I confess. I like Tori Amos. If you're willing to make the same confession, you'll like Charlotte Martin. Charlotte has the same breathless choir-girl to screaming diva vocal range that Tori does, and the same disturbing to incomprehensible lyrical style - and it is all powered by strong piano chords and keyboard prowess.

This former Miss Teen Illinois' latest release, "Stromata" is an album filled with power and a wit that seems to hearken back to the same places of other "solo girls" like Tori, Anne Sexton (poet) and Emily Dickinson.

Spiritually speaking, Stromata is pretty much awash in spiritual vaguery - which makes sense because she seems pretty spiritually vague in most of her interviews, (read "I'm spiritual but not religious."). There are some bright points that can be reinterpreted or properly interpreted by the Christian listener in songs like "I Am Redeemed" and "Four Walls."

There is a very disturbing side to many of Charlotte's lyrics. The song "Pills" is a playful tune that seems to communicate death's grin as it is seen by people caught by addiction. "Cut the Cord," a song about leaving an abusive relationship captures the pain as well as the journey to freedom from slavery to another person not only with its lyrics but with its percussion-fronting style.

Stromata is an album worth your time and Charlotte Martin is an artist who deserves a couple of listens.

Charlotte Martin snuck her way into my recommendations quite a while ago but I dismissed her with no remorse. However when she popped up again and I recognized the name I figured I'd check into it. I didn't listen to anything but the reviews for Stromata spoke volumes. Any artist with fans this passionate about a CD surely deserves my, and everyone else's attention. I was ready to be disappointed on my first listen but as the first song, Stromata, faded out I was awe-struck. Charlotte's voice is both powerful and vulnerable and the music is complex at points yet is so utterly simple other times. There's a balance throughout the entire running time that is unprecendented anymore and for that reason, Stromata deserves no less than a five star rating.

Charlotte Martin has one of the best voices I've heard in the past year, simply put. There's times where she sounds like nothing more than a 14 year old singing and then there's other times where she absolutely commands your attention. The music ranges from Tori Amos-esque piano melodies to light industrial at times. Stromata is one of those CDs that each time you hear it you find another song you might not have realized is so great the time before so it definitely begs repeated listens.

Charlotte is a hard cookie to corner. At times her music sounds like regular pop music (Drip, Cardboard Ladders) but other times she just flat out blows you away (Stromata, Little Universe, Civilized). One thing that is steady through the entire record is her amazing lyrical abilities. If you were to stop and only listen to the lyrics your jaw would undoubtedly hit the floor. As I said before though, her vocals are gorgeous as well, seen wonderfully in songs like Little Universe, Inch, and especially in the goosebump-inducing Just Before Dawn. Charlotte never overpowers the music itself though, which is a good thing. She has the ability to amaze, sure, but it seems that she'd rather give you a complete record full of catchy melodies and lush piano to accompany her voice instead of beating you over the head.

My favorite songs are Stromata, Little Universe, Civilized, Inch, and Cardboard Ladders. Few CDs make me as giddy as this one has and I truly look forward to hearing everything Charlotte has to offer. If past releases are better than this, however, I'm not entirely sure if I'm fully ready. As for Stromata though, extremely highly recommended.

When I first found Charlotte Martin, it was on a listening rack at a bookstore. The first song on her album On your Shore totally blew me away. Finding that CD might've counted for one of the luckiest moments in my life.

Since then, I've been leafing through music trying to find something to satisfy my need for more of her tunes, when I stumbled upon Stromata. I received her CD as a Christmas gift, and I haven't stopped listening to it since. Although Stromata and On Your Shore are two very different albums, they both speak to me as no other CD has before.

Many of Martin's new songs (A Hopeless Attempt, Inch, The Dance) still keep the same tone that lived in On Your Shore, when other songs (Drip, Little Universe, Stromata) show an entirely new side of her. At first I found many of the new songs eerie, maybe even spooky, but they grew on me quickly and add a touch of spice to the songs that On Your Shore never had. Two songs that can't seem to fit into either category are Pills (the quirkiest song on the album) and the opera-like Just Before Dawn. My favorite songs are Civilized, Inch and Keep Me in Your Pocket.

To me, this album is brilliant. Because I am a young listener, I find it extremely difficult to find music worth listening to out there. Many of the CDs my friends listen to seem to be lagging behind in quality. Stromata is a breathtaking, exquisite, superb new album and my favorite CD.

Let me just say I preordered Stromata, and have not stopped listening to it since the day it came out. The music, the lyrics, and of coure the voice are just absolutely breathtaking. Charlotte Martin's growth is evident from On Your Shore and Veins, both of which are 2 of my favorite albums. 2006 still has 2 months to go, but I feel safe in saying this was my favorite album released this year.

This is my second Charlotte Martin album purchase. She has expanded her horizons and seems to experiment with a few more genres and instrumentation. The piano, however, is still the primary force behind the music and she plays it quite well. She seems to delve into the alternative a bit, which I consider a brave thing to do. As always, there is a lot of beautiful voice and piano work - I find her music to be some of the most emotional and thought-provoking that I've ever come across.

On Charlotte Martin's latest album, Stromata, the songstress presents her most experimental work to date. Stromata presents Martin's typically earnest and honest lyrics against a complex background of synthesizers and electronic beats. Her influences on the album are so varied - from techno to folk to Middle Eastern - that the album lacks a sense of cohesion. Martin is a classically-trained singer with a powerful voice that cuts to the core, but even her aggressive vocals get lost in overproduced techno-infused tracks like "Little Universe."

It is when Martin strips the background - and gets back to her On Your Shore roots - that she shines brightest. Tracks like "A Hopeless Attempt" and "Inch" have simpler melodies, which showcase her adept vocals and create a more intimate sound. At times her vocals echo those of Bjork and Tori Amos - fans of Amos' From the Choirgirl Hotel will appreciate the album's melancholic sound. Lyrically, Stromata is an intriguing and insightful examination of sexual desire and love, the "forbidden fruit" and "demons" she acknowledges in "Redeemed." One of Martin's greatest strengths in this album is her refreshing candor. In "Keep Me In Your Pocket" she asks her lover to "sink your teeth into the taste of me and squeeze hard/til you can feel me splitting and you want more." "The Dance" is a mediation on a relationships end, in which she decides she "better stop crying/hello and goodbying...you get your time and the other half's mine."

Stromata features some lyrical misfires; "Drip" being the worst offender with "can't train myself to hold back any longer/breath mint fornicator." Despite this transgression, however, the album is largely intriguing and insightful. With infectious hooks ("Four Walls") and lyrical gems ("Redeemed" and "The Dance"), Stromata is worth your attention.

"The clues to you and I are sprawling out like roads
and if we find a place for them, they won't lead home
I only meant to say it once, but it's too late
I'm into you and out again"

"Stromata" is a surprisingly complex song reminiscent of Tori Amos' poetry and quite honestly Charlotte Martin has elements of Tori Amos' voice in her expression that are almost startlingly beautiful.

The electronic textures also remind me of Imogen Heap, although the songs have more energy and Charlotte's personality is fiery in places and very passionate all while allowing for moments of introspection like in Jewel's poetic songs.

The entire album seems to be a collection of miscellaneous moods that have a similar theme. There is a sense of comforting warmth within the melancholy as if the lyrics present a pathway from mystification to understanding.

Many of the songs seems to present a situation of longing for a dreamy invisible connection while a heart is isolated and observing. Listening to this album about four times brings out a complex haunting beauty that can't be fully absorbed the first time.

"Just Before Dawn" is stunning and presents the operatic dimensions of Charlotte Martin's vocal talents. You can then fully understand some of the other lyrics on this album like:

"I'm singing you every breath I'm left to heave
I feel your arms surrounding me"

Stomata is an encapsulated thunderstorm that breaks free in brief lightning in "Just Before Dawn" and then seems to soften in splashes of rain in "The Dance" that mingles the dry earth with a beautiful saturation of moods and places and completes the energetic infusion of all the previous songs. "Redeemed" is almost cleansing in its purity and you can feel an awakening throughout the lyrics and mood.

~The Rebecca Review

Charlotte Martin created a 55-minute masterpiece with her new LP, Stromata. After leaving her record label (RCA) in 2005, Charlotte released the Veins and Darkest Hour EP's on Test-Drive Records; both showcase some of the most lyrically and instrumentally poignant music of today. She released Stromata on her new label, Dinosaur Fight Records, which she created with her husband/producer Ken Andrews.

Her previous LP, On Your Shore, displays Martin's label restricting her to sounding like the "new Tori Amos" or the "more accessible Kate Bush." Listeners that find Stromata a more difficult listen than On Your Shore need to take into consideration Martin's new label head and producer is Charlotte herself, making all musical and production decisions herself. The Charlotte Martin of "Your Armor" and "Every Time It Rains" broke free from her previous producer/label-created shell. Instead, she utilizes drum machines, synthesizers, and electric piano similar to "Limits of Our Love" and "Steel" creating soundscapes that place the album somewhere in between Björk's Vespertine and Up by Peter Gabriel.

The LP is nothing short of brilliant. It combines aspects of all her past releases with an electronic and experimental feel on tracks such as Civilized and Inch. Other tracks, including the quirky "Pills" and operatic "Just Before Dawn" (sung in German), show Martin's compositional range. Stromata showcases the development of Martin as her own artist. I strongly suggest listening and/or downloading "Stromata", "Little Universe", "Keep Me in Your Pocket", and "Redeemed" to find out where this album leads. However, listening to single songs from the album does not compare to the sonic journey the album takes the listener when listened to in full.

I cannot stop listening to this album. It begs to be listened to. As much as I try to take this white CD out of my stereo, the more I want to keep listening to it. And that's something I cannot say about any other album I've purchased for quite some time. Stromata proves that Charlotte Martin is her own artist rather than a piecemeal of labels critics and listeners created with her previous releases. This album reflects listen after listen that Martin is worthy of ascending the throne of one of the greatest singer-songwriters of the 21st century.