NYC singer-songwriter transplanted to Austin
Faye arrived in Austin, from New York City, a couple years back, having already recorded her debut album Last Kids in the Bar in 2006. The band on that first album mixed country, folk and blues, but even with banjos and electric guitars behind her, Faye remained more of a singer-songwriter than a country chanteuse, folklorist or blues shouter; huskier voiced than Laura Nyro, but with a similar flair. And so it is on her second album, accompanied by Will Sexton, David Holt and Rick Richards, she’s replaced the East Village grit with a more bucolic Austin tone, yet remains more a singer-songwriter than a band leader or Americana artist. Faye’s songs – she wrote or so-wrote all ten tracks – are populated by carnal invitations, groupies, cheating mates, lonely nights and broken hearts. Even the sunshine of “Summer Legs†is clouded over by a survivor’s isolation. The album closes with uncertainty finally losing its footing to love on the acoustic ballad “Ready to Fall.†Faye’s found a nurturing community in Austin, but ironically, her music has become less twangy and more vocally focused with her move West. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]