Music Matters Review

Issue 12, 1999   

Smithtown, NY. Michael Devlin, editor

Anne Marie Menta: Untried & True

1999, Pearl Avenue Music, P.O.Box 6657, Hamden, CT 06517, 203-230-0486

This debut album is immediately notable for the quality of the songwriting. Menta knows how to set the mood with a catchy chorus and capture big feelings in the small details of a story. The CD starts with "That's My Sister," and a photo of a baby in a bassinet with "a dark haired boy with a wide-eyed grin standing right beside." The next song "Dixwell Avenue" relates the earliest and final memories of her father to the street of the title.

There is a strong sense of time and place that gives emotional impact without resorting to sentimentality. The images of her songs get under your skin like the refrain "There's a river outside her door" in a song about a young woman about to step out in pursuit of her dreams. Whether the songs are going for something deep or light, they are consistently well-crafted. At times the arrangements and are not up to the quality of Menta's singing and songs, but that should not prevent you from enjoying this fine set of music.

   -- M. Devlin

contents copyright 1999 Music Matters Review

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