Karyn Oliver: Press

Karyn Oliver
Hurricane

4 ½ out of 5 stars

Impressive genre defying debut from Baltimore singer-songwriter

From the sensual saxophone intro to the first track America it’s clear that this record is something special. The lyrics to this opener echo the pain of seeing the world’s richest nation failing to live up to the standards expected by its citizens and the backing wails in sympathy carried along by Karyn’s plaintive ‘Oh, America, Where are you now?’
The mood lightens with the Countrified Flutterby, warning against the dangers of first love. As with all the tracks the backing for this is superb with some great guitaring from husband, Matt Lehr. The next track, Nothing To Remember is the killer track of the whole CD. This is a lovely, sad love ballad, recalling Mary-Chapin Carpenter at her best, over a Tex-Mex feel underpinned by David Zee’s melodica.
A straight up rocker next with No Rest. There is a tendency on a debut album to try to showcase all the aspects of your talent and given that this is your big chance is understandable and no bad thing. Unfortunately, it can tend to lead to a slightly uneven feel to the album as a whole which is why this feed-back fuelled rock‘n’roll, although excellently done, feels like it belongs on a different CD. This feeling is amplified by the following track the excellent Morning sung totally unaccompanied. It’s clear from this track and others throughout the CD that Karyn Oliver has a terrific, soulful voice that is shown to great effect in the title track Hurricane which follows.
The album really hits a groove with the upbeat I’m Still Here, again with some great guitar. I’m assuming that the next track, St Mary’s, is autobiographical detailing the awfulness of being taught by nuns and how the experience still haunts her. This seems like a good point to point out the sheer quality of the song writing. All the songs are written by Karyn Oliver and move from ballads to rockers without any drop in quality. The lyrics are intelligent and often poignant. As stated above it is clear this debut is designed to show the breadth of Karyn’s songwriting talents as well as her vocal skills. We therefore next get the cool funk of The Rain followed by the alt.country sound of Baynesville and Missing (Come Back to Me). Last up we have an emotional unaccompanied Cold Water’s Fire.
This is an exceptional debut by a very talented singer and songwriter backed by a truly sympathetic group of musicians. My only quibble would be that it tries a bit too hard to be a showcase for all the aspects of Oliver’s abilities but with this amount of talent on show it’s a small point. I think that once Karyn decides the direction of her music then she has the capacity to follow this through to enormous success. KM

Her array of musical
styles ranges from throbbing rock
with a feminine tease to pure, silky
love songs that will shatter your
heart. She displays a vocal versatility
in her mix of blues and rock, accompanied
by soft emotion.

From the opening classic saxophone sounds of Deanna Bogart, Karyn Oliver’s new CD “Hurricane” flashes through your mind with its influences. The high points of 70’s singer-songwriters’ and mellow rockers are all clearly influential, but don’t make the mistake of thinking this CD is derivative of anything but Karyn’s life and songwriting talents. Finely crafted songs highlight Karyn’s vocal styles and tap deeply into Baltimore’s imprint on her life.

Think such classics as Heart around “Dog and Butterfly”, Springsteen’s “Born To Run” era mixed with more modern themes and sounds.

Baltimore Songwriter's Association
"Songs from our Circle - Volume 4"
Compilations are probably my favorite of all project types. Especially when they are a double-disc release, and even more so when they make an effort to include a melting pot of styles, genres and moods. This multifarious fourth release of Baltimore's area songwriters satisfies my variety-hungry ears wonderfully with it's eclectic mix of folk, rock, jazz, chick rock, dude rock, theater-style tunes, sing-a-long and harmony driven melodies, including gospel, and back-in-the-day musical protein. Vocal talents on the CD are an interesting variance of 'sound like' influences that really stand out such as; James Taylor in 'Goodnight Best Friend' by Richard Minogue; Bruce Springsteen in 'Stare' by Gerard Thomas Goodenow & Dolly Parton in 'The Great Attraction' by David Reeve, led vocally by Grace Hearn. The project is laden with gifted artists, but the strongest four tracks in my opinion are:

The punk-like 'Isn't it Funny' by Karyn Oliver;

'Goin' Down to Memphis' by The Beltways, (though a bit too Rolling Stone-ish to be a totally original sound, it's still a great groove song), the jazzy sweetness and fun of 'Perfect Enough' by Nita Paul and J.P. Graboski's powerful cut, 'Burning Grey'. The production and mastering is excellently done and it's obvious that the team set out to release an outstanding gathering of Maryland talent and succeeded. 29 tunes later we get to hear a wonderful example of the power that can be had in a music community supporting it's own. The final result is something for them all to be proud of. I can't wait for Volume 5. Great job!

Various Artists
Songs From Our Circle 4
(Baltimore Songwriters' Association)
This two disc set features 29 tunes, mostly folk and rock, by Baltimore Songwriters’ Association members. The results are uneven, but that’s to be expected. Among the highlights are Brittany Bauhaus’ gorgeously understated “The Perfect View,”

Karyn Oliver’s careening “Isn’t It Funny,”

Ray Jozwiak’s downright disorienting “Henry,” the Histrionik’s quirky “Shadow (Cat’s Song) and BSA founder Paul Iwancio’s catchy “Once Our Roof.”

Dear Readers:

"...Other players who really impressed me vocalist Karyn Oliver. She has got the pipes..."

"...she has a fabulous voice..."