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Quit the Curse is the debut solo album by Anna Burch. However, she's been in a few bands before. In fact, she was in Failed Flowers, one of the many projects by busybody Fred Thomas, also of Saturday Looks Good to Me.
Mr. Thomas is known for his Motown-ish-ness, and i suppose that Ms. Burch sang Motown for Fred in Failed Flowers, but here she is making classic pop music of a kind that seems to stretch beyond Detroit and instead just feels generically American. She sings in a kind of breathy voice that drags out the last syllable of each line, and her voice is paired with simple guitar, bass, and drums.
It's a timeless formula, and while she is not re-inventing anything, there is still a lot to like here.
I think the real highlight is What I Want, a gorgeous pop tune of slow chiming guitar, ponderous drums, a walking bass line, and Burch singing confessionally to her ex-lover, who has apparently moved on (hint: a theme of this album is that she has not moved on!) On the chorus, she sings "I won't play the victim just because I don't get what I want" as the song swells up with the guitars chiming in layers... Lovely. But, really Anna, let him go already!
On Asking 4 a Friend she sings to her dealer, and slowly reveals that she has a crush on the guy she buys weed from. It's actually a charming song, with her coming across as shy and a little goofy as she sings over a nice steady beat. The guitar part here reminds me of a lot of mid 1990s indie pop, like some of the mellower work of Yo La Tengo, or maybe Luna.
Belle Isle is a different kind of tune, the only song on this record that she sings as a Country tune. She does a passing decent Southern accent (a must for singing convincing Country no matter where you are from), but she won't be fooling anyone in the North Georgia mountains at all. Her adopting a hint of a Southern accent here raises some odd questions about the "style" of Country music that i don't even know what to think about at the moment... But it is a pretty enough little song which eventually pops into a sort of waltz, as she sings about dancing with someone on the titular island. The last part, the waltz part, is very pretty.
Burch continues using Prince-ish naming on 2 Cool 2 Care, which starts off as a happy little pop tune, before her band comes in and she sings loudly as the band chimes along.
Those are the tunes that i like best of the 9 here, but there is nothing that is truly weak. So this is a nice solo debut. She's not exactly going to change the world or anything, but it's a fun listen.
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