Artist: Daphne Lee Martin
Album: Fall On Your Sword
Label: Telegraph Recording Company
Release Date: 10/02/2015
The first few tracks of Fall On Your Sword are a bit startling in their scope, but the album quickly comes into focus. There are so many musical influences working together, it doesn’t seem probable that they could form one harmonious whole, and yet they do. Jazz, pop, hip-hop and even opera manage to function together in Martin’s fourth full-length album. Almost all artists pull inspiration from a variety of sources, but Fall On Your Sword deserves praise for using those sources in unexpected and colorful ways.
“Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Head” (which you can hear on the site here) sets the tone early on for this unusual fusion of sounds that continues throughout the album. Fall On Your Sword features numerous additions by other musical talent, and especially noteworthy is “Love Is A Rebellious Bird” with its accompanying raspy vocals and smooth melody. Martin’s numerous references to religion and myth add an interesting layer of context to the medley of sounds. “I’d Take A Bullet For You” outlines the lives of outlaws Bonnie and Clyde in brass and hazy keyboard. If Florence and the Machine began to work a lot of fast jazz into their music, it might sound a bit like Fall On Your Sword. It’s a refreshingly original album that never falters into patterns of repetition or cliché; rather, Martin has crafted a discography that is uniquely her own.
– Leah Dearborn
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