The Artist: April Smith and the Great Picture Show
Originally Hails From: Tom's River, NJ
Ah, if only Fiona Apple lived as a traveling act in the vaudeville circuit of the early 20th century.
Upon my initial listening of April Smith and the Great Picture Show's second CD, Songs for a Sinking Ship, the above was the only thought I had. Perhaps if Apple peaked a couple decades before her birth, we could have some of the wonderfully catchy, yet substantial music provided by the Tom's River native and her backing band.
The group's menagerie of instruments, from accordion and ukulele to a suitcase, used on tracks like the relentlessly catchy "Colors" as a bass drum, supports Smith's beautiful and satisfying vocals with the eclectic, jazz-induced ragtime of a 1930's carnival. The Brooklyn based instrumentalists that compose the Great Picture Show compliment not only the tongue in cheek lyrical wit of each track, but also Smith's wildly fluid vocal range, in a fashion that suggests a natural synchronicity between the efforts and intent of both parties. The product, or rather, performance produced is mighty memorable. Think the lovechild of the Decemberists and Zooey Deschanel's She and Him, if that lovechild happened to have Tom Waits as her nanny, singing her his bittersweet narratives of low-lives and the blues.
However, the defining characteristic of the group that sets it apart from the flood of popularized, similar female contemporaries (Regina Spektor, Jaymay, Lenka, Birdie Busch, etc.) is clearly Smith herself. Smith's vocals cover a decent range almost seamlessly, and what's more, is Smith has the ability to control and adapt her voice in any register to sudden dramatic alterations. One moment, she is light and innocent, legato and sotto voce, and without warning, she is full voice, in a high register, belting out a punishing, yet beautifully managed and healthily produced ornamented refrain. Smith's vocal acrobats, while not quite Handel-esque melismas, sound effortless and are, quite honestly, show stoppers in and of themselves. Her ability to control and contort her voice has massive impacts on he drama of each track. My favorite tracks from Sinking Ship are the many in which Smith shows her true personality through her gift, dramatically switching from coy and flirtatious to sassy and cocky in a manner of one lyrical line. It is these moments, such as in the record's concluding track, "Stop Wondering", in which Smith, backed by waltzing piano and orchestral swells, sings, "Do you ever wonder if I'm dreaming of you?/ Well I'm not/ So you can stop/ wondering", or in "Drop Dead Gorgeous" "You're so pretty when your mouth is closed/ but with a mouth like that baby/ who needs politics and prose?", where it is easy for the listener to impose their own portrait of Smith onto the music - the sweet girl next door who had some bite, and who you would love to be rejected by, or the funky tomboy at the schoolyard, or the quirky drama geek. However, this would be an injustice to the true porthole Smith and her band provides us with - that into who Smith actually is, the authentic artist, who would put on shows for her family dressed as Freddy Mercury or Tom Waits.
Recently, the group has had some major national breakthroughs, "Terrible Things", another cheeky track from the second album, has been used in promotions for both Californication and the upcoming sixth season of Weeds. The group has received great reviews from Rolling Stones and several other major periodicals, and will be performing at Lollapalooza.
Go ahead and give a listen to this group. Both of their albums (2005's loveletterbomb and 2010's Songs for a Sinking Ship) are excellent. For the first time listener, I would recommend the following tracks as a first taste:
"Movie Loves a Screen" (Track 1 on Sinking Ships)
"Drop Dead Gorgeous" (Track 3 on Sinking Ships)
"Wow and a Flutter" (Track 10 on Sinking Ships)
"Stop Wondering" (Track 11 on Sinking Ships)
"Colors" (Track 4 on Live from the Penthouse, or Track 6 on Sinking Ships)
"The One That Got Away" (Track 5 on loveletterbombs)
For Fans of: Pink Martini, She and Him, Fiona Apple, Regina Spektor, Lenka, Birdie Busch, Duke Special
Go ahead. I dare you to not dance to "Colors", or at least crack one smile duuring one of these tracks.
Keep supporting your local artists!
MattintheBelfry
Live from the Penthouse
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