Catie Curtis
Dreaming in Romance Languages

(Vanguard)

First Appeared at The Music Box, April 2004, Volume 11, #4

Written by John Metzger

The finer moments on Catie Curtis’ Dreaming in Romance Languages come when, instead of remaining distanced from her music, the Boston-based singer/songwriter allows herself to become fully immersed within it. It’s here that she allows lyric and melody to meet in a delicate give-and-take motion that is truly sublime. For example, on the gentle folk ballad Deliver Me, Curtis’ heartfelt vocals are embraced by tender harmonies that soothingly sway in the comforting arms of the surrounding acoustic instrumentation, while on It’s the Way You Are, bubbling rhythms support the track’s general ambience of yearning and hope. The highlight, however, is a brooding cover of Morphine’s The Night on which Curtis explores the song’s dark avenues, turning it into a seductively swirling sea of haunted desperation, her voice clinging to each word with equal parts longing and fear. For a moment, she finds her voice by fully succumbing to her emotions, and a result she unleashes a gem that nothing else on Dreaming in Romance Languages can surpass.

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Ratings

1 Star:   Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!

Copyright © 2004 The Music Box