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The Fuze An Online Rock Journal - Album review The Contact- USA Anne-Marie Helder ’Äì The Contact (2004) Karnataka vocalist Anne-Marie Helder wasted no time putting together this EEP, following the breakup of the band earlier this fall. Calling it an (extended) EP because of the fairly short set of six songs, Helder has crafted a mostly-acoustic collection of songs that pack an emotional wallop. Her expressive voice, falling somewhere between the great Sam Brown and poetess Jewel, is unabashedly naked and makes tracks like ’ÄúBlood Red Sky’Äù and ’ÄúExodus’Äù sound both angry and vulnerable at the same time. This is also in effect on ’ÄúStallions & Nags’Äù and ’ÄúNo Other Lover’Äù. The exception to the rule here is ’ÄúAutocratic’Äù, an almost funky acoustic track over an electronic rhythm bed which effectively offers a breather from the intensity of the rest of the album. Perhaps most shocking of the songs here is ’ÄúMurder’Äù, a violent tale with an impassioned vocal. Throughout ’ÄòThe Contact’Äô, Helder is ably backed by boyfriend Dave Kilminster, whose acoustic work shines, and whose electric flourishes further give ’ÄúMurder’Äù its sinister quality. ’ÄòThe Contact’Äô is Anne-Marie Helder’Äôs calling card for now, and shows how potent she can be when she’Äôs so moved by the events in her life. When she broadens her palette on a full album release, you can be sure that, even after Karnataka’Äôs great swan song, ’ÄòDelicate Flame of Desire’Äô, people will begin saying ’ÄúKarna-who?’Äù
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