Paint A Lady

Susan Christie: Paint A Lady and Yesterday, Where's My Mind?
From: Paint A Lady [Finders Keepers, 2006]

You may have picked up from my previous posts on Ruth Copeland and Lyn Christopher that I'm a 100% sucker for a certain type of female folk rock. Anything with strong female vocals over tough and moody guitars makes me do the equivalent of a mental swoon and Susan Christie's Paint A Lady is one of the strongest offerings I've come across yet.

A folk singer with more than a passing interest in the playfulness of psychedelia, Christie suffered the fate of many of the artists featured on the site in that she never received her proper dues. However, Christie went one step further than most, forgoing the usual pain of having her album slept on by instead seeing the record label never release her album at all. It was only due to a private press protected lovingly for years that the album was rediscovered and reissued recently by Finders Keepers.

So, onto the music. The title song itself, Paint A Lady, is a brilliantly laid back growler of a track, simmering with intent from the moment the music starts, lilting guitars hovering over some simple but great percussion. Similar in tone to Lyn Christopher's Take Me With You, this track glows with confidence and swagger from Christie as she paints a tale of the monotony of life. By the time the harmonies enter in the chorus I can't see how anyone wouldn't be sold on the brilliance evident here.

I was torn with the second track to feature here, between the Copeland's Medal like anger of For The Love Of A Soldier, the folky bliss of Rainy Day or the psychedelic wig out of Yesterday, Where's My Mind?. Well I dithered and Rainy Day is a truly beautiful track but I thought you'd be most interested in the wig out so here it is. The track takes it's time to get going, spending three minutes as Christie sets the scene of wandering the streets. However, the song builds and builds on it's initial momentum until we are left with Christie screaming at God over heavy percussion and guitars. Excellent stuff.

The album is now readily available from Finders Keepers and they've done a decent job on the reissue. It's rare that an album so long slept on is great from start to finish but I would highly, highly recommend picking this up.