*** Rose Polenzani

ANYBODY

(Daemon)

The simple tinkling of an acoustic guitar playing unexpected chord changes, a poetic vision drenched with religious imagery, and a wistful vocal style make Rose Polenzani a songwriter to watch. "Or," a song about a woman balanced on the edge of suicide, benefits from the mournful harmonies of Indigo Girls, but it's Polenzani's delicate voice that cuts to the bone. "Olga's Birthday," a disturbing ballad about a woman discovered in the arms of another woman, is as bleak and ominous as anything Gillian Welch has recorded, but Polenzani manages a happy ending without letting go of the song's unbearable tension.

Like Welch, Polenzani is drawn to the rhythms of the country blues and ancient murder ballads that form the bedrock of much American folk and country music, but her ornate vocals add tiny sparks of light to her dark visions. She recently won the ASCAP Sammy Cahn lyricist award, and Voices on the Verge, a singer/songwriter group she's part of, are cutting an album for Rykodisc, so this unknown isn't going to be maintaining her low profile much longer.

-- J. Poet