LIZ MARTIN – DANCE A LITTLE, LIVE A LITTLE
Here’s an artist who has not allowed herself to be pigeonholed. She has worked on a range of genres and with various production approaches. She could have gone electronic, she could have gone indie but instead, she has gathered up a whole new range of genres to call her own. On this album, local singer Liz Martin shows her maturity not by saying I’ve found my niche, but by saying ‘I can do it all’. You’ll hear glam rock, Hebrew melodies, New Orleans big band tunes, Parisian sultriness, and sci-fi romanticism. Phew, wouldn’t that be exhausting as a listen? In a word, no. More like evocative, alluring and strangely comforting. And played by wonderful musicians!
- Tim Ritchie, ABC Radio National
LIZ MARTIN – DANCE A LITTLE, LIVE A LITTLE
Liz Martin's latest album, 'Dance a Little, Live a Little' is wildly eclectic, with many musical styles served well by a great crew of players but the underlying theme is one of quirky, playful hipness coupled with emotional openness.
Liz co-produced the album with bassist Dave Symes, who also did most of the string and horn arrangements. Hamish Stuart drums, Stu Hunter plays keys, James Greening plays trombone and pocket trumpet and strings enter unexpectedly. The styles range from straight ahead pop to jazz to rockabilly and more on this ever-changing, surprising ride of an album.
- Lucky Oceans, The Daily Planet, ABC Radio National, April 2011
LIZ MARTIN – DANCE A LITTLE, LIVE A LITTLE
Indie songstress Liz Martin has the kind of voice that makes you want to lean in close - a deep, lush, beautiful sound. It’s a voice and talent that’s earned her a gold record with Paul Mac, tour spots with Sigur Ros, Silverchair and The Black Keys and the long-standing respect and admiration of Sydney’s underground electronic scene.
Now after many months spent exploring warm 60s & 70s sounds and working with some of Sydney’s finest musicians Liz Martin is releasing her stunning third album "Dance a Little, Live a Little" - hot on the heels of her super catchy single of the same name which has been bouncing its way onto our radios.
In a sweet spot between pop, folk and jazz Liz Martin has found a poetic groove with a remarkable collection of songs that reference Glam rock, Hebrew melodies, New Orleans big bands, Parisian noir thrillers and sci-fi romanticism. Ranging from sophisticated pop to playful instrumentals and tender ballads "Dance a Little, Live a Little" has the special lustre that comes from real performances rather than the cutting and pasting of formula pop.
Inspired arrangements featuring brass, reeds and strings rise over a bed-rock of piano, bass and drums.
"I wanted to write more playfully - to escape and dream as well as purge some emotional angst. Over a long period of exile I wrote and recorded in my room. I played the parts in myself and sang little horn lines. By the end of it I was very ready to hang out with some real people. And real musicians! I wanted to let the songs loose."
A departure from her two previous albums (Beneath The Stars, Night Music) "Dance a Little, Live a Little" delivers a new, mature sound guided by the fresh open arrangements and co- production of local bass meister Dave Symes (Sleepy Jackson, Sarah Blasko, Missy Higgins) and features Hamish Stuart (drums), Stu Hunter (keys), Veren Grigorov (violin/viola), Dirk Kruithof (guitar) and Mr Percival (guest vocals on an excellent cover of Bowie’s Sound and Vision).
A brilliant and tender album full of honesty, lightness and humour Liz Martin proves that a little bit of dancing can come from a whole lot of living.
This album marks the coming of age of one of Sydney’s finest independent talents and most beautiful voices. Liz Martin lures you in with the restrained tone of a female Cohen doing Rickie Lee Jones. These are songs that burn with a cool flame.
- Ian Shadwell, likeithateit.net
LIZ MARTIN - DANCE A LITTLE, LIVE A LITTLE
Liz Martin doesn't waste time with many folkie/singer-songwriter tropes here: not for her earnest faux intensity or simple hum-along/strum-alongs. Maybe it's her background with electronic artists, maybe it's having some fine jazz players on hand or maybe just a busy spirit. Whatever it is, this album continues to surprise. Long Bad Day, for example, feels like a speakeasy, James Greening's trombone putting some high-class sleaze on top, while the instrumental Be What May pokes its tongue out at you, David Bowie's Sound and Vision is given some jazz swing and the late-night sadness of Oh comes across like some two-cigarettes-in-the-ashtray moment. While So Long finds Martin's deep voice offering some cabaret, the title track has the bounce - and hooks - of bright pop. That's plenty of variety for when Martin plays at Notes in Newtown on Saturday Night.
- Bernard Zuel, Sydney Morning Herald, April 8, 2011
LIZ MARTIN – DANCE A LITTLE, LIVE A LITTLE
When you see the names Dave Symes and Hamish Stuart on an album that is as good as a stamp of approval – “Quality Product Contained Within”. That Symes produced the album, and that Liz Martin already had two highly promising albums to her name heightens the sense of expectation. "Dance a Little, Live a Little" doesn’t disappoint. Think Rickie Lee-Jones meets Leonard Cohen in Paris. Think jazz meets pop in a smokey 60′s swinging bar. Think good thoughts. Forget those So Frenchy, So Chic compilations, take one listen to the title track here and feel all the liberation of Europe in the 1960′s. Liz Martin is an artist who works into her songs, less personal revelations than lovingly constructed offerings. And in Symes and company she has a band who have found the groove and feel for each carefully composed piece; and her choice of cover – David Bowie’s lesser known Sound and Vision – not only perfectly complements the albums original tunes but adds and external element of surprise and difference (with Mr Percival providing the duet voice). That the album was written in the aftermath of her fathers death and as she recovered from major surgery provides a context for us to understand how a real artist works.
****
- Chris Peken
, Altmedia, April 2011
LIZ MARTIN – DANCE A LITTLE, LIVE A LITTLE
Debonair and smooth in its musical etching, Liz Martin's Dance a Little, Live a Little meanders ('So Long'), sways ('Be What May'), gets all Belle and Sebastian meets Fairport Convention ('Dance a Little, Live a Little') then strikes a sci-fi jazz interlude only three songs in. Oh and then there's Martin floating semi-naked in a swimming pool on the front cover of the record. Erect right nipple exposed, pearl necklace buoyant like a jellyfish jewel with Martin's sequined dress spashed across her torso... it's a mesmerising shot.
Amitious indeed and it works as a piece of contentious art alongside the sonic catwalk with Martin crooning Parisian noir style with the backing of measured strings, shuffle drum and Dave Symes' bass working over sultry terrain to soundtrack the saucy image.
Along with Hamish Stuart (drums), Stu Hunter (keys), Veren Grigorov (violin/viola), Dirk Kruithof (guitar), Mr Percival (guest focals on Bowie's 'Sound and Vision') and a score of an ABC Radio National album of the week, Martin has reached a new level on her third record. Melancholy amalgamates with angst, the swoon with the swank, amid the resonance of artists the likes of Antony Hegarty, Joan Wasser and Rickie Lee Jones whose sounds emanate right the way through "Dance a Little, Live a Little".
Narratives tap in and out and collapse in a heap with wilful lyrics and a headstrong approach washing through Martin's delivery. Jazz and pop, breathy and brilliant. From Shirley Bassey inspired 'Night Time' to the epic orchestral score that is 'Darling', this record will move you in ways you really want to be moved.
- Nick Argyrio, Rhythms Magazine
LIZ MARTIN - DANCE A LITTLE, LIVE A LITTLE
Liz MARTIN: Dance a Little, Live a Little (2011). Martin (vocals), Dave Symes (bass, arrangements), Hamish Stuart (drums), Stu Hunter (keyboards), Veren Grigorov (violin, viola), Dirk Kruithof (gtr), Mr. Percival (guest vocal on “Sound and Vision”). Vitamin Records VT0055 (http://www.vitamin.net.au/).
The louche drawl of a superb horn section plays tag with Liz Martin’s delicate vocals on the new album Dance a Little, Live a Little. Jazz singer, indie chanteuse — Liz Martin isn’t to be categorised that easily. Undeniably nourished by jazz — but far from anything esoteric and improvised, Martin’s sound is a playful embrace of the savvier side of pop with a massage from the cool hands of dashing crooners. Combining her sultry growl and a tight rhythm section, she is what happens when a Brubeck-influenced, Blue Note aficionado inhabits a grrrl balladeer who survived the grungiest excesses of the 1990s. Consequently, Martin’s music is profoundly sexy.
In the case of Dance a Little, Live a Little, you must judge the album by its cover. In perhaps an offhand improvement on Janet Jackson’s infamous oops moment, Liz Martin’s submerged nude figure is utterly stylish. Clad in a dissolving white dress against a turquoise backdrop, this image of Aphrodite-like rebirth promises what the music delivers: fragile beauty emerging with a refreshed style.
Think Leonard Cohen but low on bombast, and Tom Waits but low on gravel. With this new album, Liz Martin’s songs are gentle but assured, and any lyrical melancholy is never shot through with self-loathing. It’s a relief that her tortured and torch-lit indie days are over; not that there wasn’t a hint of her curious mix of strength and delicacy in her earlier and noticeably darker material. When I heard Liz Martin in a mid-noughties performance at a local café turned low-lit troubadour club, teaming up with fellow indie songbird Inga Liljestrom, she was captivating. I harbour memories of breathtaking sadness and troubling darkness that are happily absent from Dance a Little, Live a Little.
The bouncy staccato of album opener “So Long” initiates the listener into the tone of personal liberation that infuses the album. Martin’s vocals are suggestive of a deceptively relaxed timbre — she lands somewhere under the note, then beside it, caressing the note and sliding from it into the next clipped lyric. The jaunty piano of “So Long” returns in the following track, “Be What May.” The song is compact, witty, rhythmically delicious and a stylish dialogue of horns and voice.
The joy of these arrangements erupts in the title track. “Dance a Little, Live a Little” skips, wriggles and grabs you by the hand. Here the sensual voice again takes hold: You’ll want to hear just a little bit more of this very “little” song — a modest song for one that is instantaneously exciting.
“Meanwhile” is a bemusing “entr’acte” evoking a late ’60s James Bond theme. For those Liz Martin fans attracted to the singer’s moody good looks as well as her music, the steamy sound of high heels (Liz’s own or perhaps an elusive paramour’s) is the star of this bite-sized noir soundtrack.
The thrills continue with a strange but cunningly wrought jazzy reworking of Bowie’s “Sound and Vision.” Liz Martin’s cover is a perfect translation.
“Olives and Wine” builds on the sensuality theme inspired by the spontaneous swim of the album packaging. This song signals the moment when the lights are dimmed and the band leader calls up a slow dance. Romantic but not sappy, it’s a wedding dance for the thinking woman.
“Wish” and “Long Bad Day” echo the earlier brass cahoots on “Be What May.” “Wish” is a perfect song of desire. It’s confessional but smart, with rhythms stunningly reminiscent of Tom Waits’ Alice album. Strings, double bass and snare paint a canvas of cool moodiness that undercuts the yearning of the song. There’s no room for gloom, as “Long Bad Day” attests. Suave piano and horns make an almost comedic meal of the minor keys, syncopating and finger-snapping their way through another perfect little song.
“Night Time” follows the gentle and piano-showcase of “Oh” as a memorable and definitive track. Infused with the charcoal hues from a brooding electric guitar, Liz Martin’s breathy lyrics are holding a candle for one that got away. Despite the yearning, the beautiful, dark melody suggests controlled passion.
Resolution rewards listeners in the final two tracks. “Darling” is a song that’s wrapped in the warmth of another Dave Symes string arrangement, with Stu Hunter’s understated piano a match for Liz Martin’s vocal subtlety. The farewell notes of this final-sounding song are conclusively charming, but for a sneaky closing track, “Early Morning Skies.” With a dainty, homespun sound which chirps sweetly along with Dan Waples’ clarinet, it’s another optimistic moment in an upbeat album.
Without surrendering her serious side, Liz Martin has delivered a sparkling album. Familiar sounds of traditional jazz quartets are enchanted with sweet strings and growling guitar. While obviously a collaborative musical effort, the personal drive to bring it all together and take creative risks belongs to Liz Martin. A local hero of Sydney’s inner-city bohemian set, Martin’s music is gradually gaining wider audiences in Australia, with airplay and coverage across national media. With her delectable melodies, and a voice that ditches full-throttle ego for laid-back swagger, Liz Martin will undoubtedly turn heads and win fans. After hearing Dance a Little, Live a Little I want to dance and live a whole lot more, sensing that more great music is surely not too far off in her brilliant career.
- Miri Jassy, La Folia, September 2011
LIZ MARTIN with MICHAEL BRIDGES - NIGHT MUSIC
With a sublimely languid, limpidly evocative voice, Liz Martin delivers her aching tunes in a quietly unhurried mood, her clear-eyed images of love and loss just this side of devastating, accompanied by strumming electric guitar, violin and the occasional eerie undercurrent of musical saw. The opening track, Night Time, evokes something of a Weimer Germany '30s cabaret feel, and Give Me Back My Tears has a certain bluegrass jauntiness despite the title. The stripped back revisiting of album tracks ( Cold as Hell and Walking) cuts deeper into the emotion than ever.
- Michael Smith, Drum Media, January 15th 2008
LIZ MARTIN - BENEATH THE STARS
A delightful surprise awaits the listener on this self-assured debut from Sydneysider Liz Martin. Leaping forth from the myriad of acoustic singer-songwriters is this distinctive voice of cultivated electro pop, electronica and blues for the discerning palate. Martin already owns a gold record courtesy of her work with Paul Mac; and it's the bald honesty of her voice that she expresses with the tone of one much younger that sits her outside the many. Don't let the unassuming packaging fool you, this is more than worth your time.
- Chris Peken, City Hub, July 2006
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