Search - Kathy Compton :: Gentle Ravings Under a Martian Sky

In a world that can be fraught with tension and anxiety, good music can serve as a beacon of light. At the dawn of 2004, Kathy Compton?s GENTLE RAVINGS UNDER A MARTIAN SKY enters as a most potent weapon within the arsenal of good vibrations. Her warm voice is as soothing as a breeze on a summer night, and the eleven songs on her album will leave music fans feeling happy and wanting to know more about this impressive songstress. GENTLE RAVINGS UNDER A MARTIAN SKY, Compton?s second album, is a triumph of vision, craftsmanship, and performance. The album is filled with eclectic songs that feature a variety of textures, and a certain sultry quality that cannot be manufactured. Influenced by a wide range of classic and contemporary greats-- Bono,Badly Drawn Boy, Peggy Lee --Compton conjures up an exotic brew of classy, genre-spanning tunes that offer more substance, more pure emotion, than one can find just anywhere. Compton says, "The artists I love listening to the most elevate my soul," and she infuses her own music with that passion. Listening to her songs bears this out. "Wilderness Of Sin," for instance, begins with the soft, fluttering sound of a muted trumpet (played by John D?earth), while Compton languidly strums chords from her guitar, delicately singing "Spawned from shame, we learn to hide our desire/ But all it does is inflame and inspire." The number gradually fills in with drums, electric guitar, and finally a group of middle and high school students to lend an almost "we are the world, we are the children" aura. Another gem of a song, "Sunrise," (written by Ezra Hamilton, who adds guitar and backing vocals), is a confident, beautifully arranged, achingly sung ballad. The smoky feel of the song invokes images of an intimate jazz club, with lightly tapping drums playing off the trickling of piano keys, the slight steel guitar work simmering on top of loping bass lines, and Compton?s lulling voice caressing the vocals as she sings "There is no you and I anymore". Words so painful to hear have never sounded so lovely. Demonstrating a knack for crossing over genres, Compton?s rock influences also materialize. The bursting trumpets of "Optisong" kick off the album, quickly establishing Compton?s flair for writing a dynamic, upbeat melody. The mid-tempo rocker offers a clean, breezy sound, with electric piano and acoustic guitar being guided by a pumping bass line, and shots of loud guitar muscling in as the song progresses. If ever there was a song to be played loud and fast on the open highway, this is it. The funk elements of the enjoyable "Grass Beneath my Feet," a mid-tempo dance tune that features different electronic samples, definitely invites favorable comparisons to Stereolab, Beth Orton and Dido. With its dance pop grooves, tt?s easy to imagine that this track will be getting steady radio attention as Compton?s music becomes more widespread. Compton?s playful side crops up on her cover of the theme song to the 70s T.V.. show, "Love Boat." That song is one "...I?ve been known to break out into when feeling special and reckless," says Compton. She and able producer Rod Coles revamped the classic into a bouncy, quasi-disco number, that is simply contagious. Kathy Compton sings songs of elegant beauty and genre-defying eclecticism, and GENTLE RAVINGS UNDER A MARTIAN SKY is her gift to the music world. All she asks in return is that the we sit back, take it all in, and enjoy.