Carsie Blanton
Not Old, Not New
(So Ferocious)

A plinky piano and playful horn open into the slightly naughty, back-of-the-throat-sexy vocal of Carsie Blanton on opening tune “Azalea” on her new album, Not Old, Not New. That horn comes back for the lead section mid-way, really rounding the tune out in a nice jazzy mode. The second song in, Cole Porter’s  “Laziest Gal In Town,” evokes even more ‘tude. “Two Sleepy People” is jaunty, cute little pop, again with Carsie showing off her vocal control, though this one is simply too coquettish for me. The mournful “You Don’t Know What Love Is” slips close to that a-little-too-cute for-her-own-good vocal, but Carsie really is a master of injecting just enough roil and breath into her distinctive voice to really kick this lament well out of the park.“What Is This Thing Called Love?” has a cool vibe, but I don’t feel it’s an especially strong song from these numbers this lady has chosen from the first half of the last century. “Sweet Lorraine” though fits Carsie’s vocal perfectly and once again her musicians sit back nicely, especially drummer Joe Dyson.

“Don’t Come Too Soon” is upbeat, naughty and really perfect throughout – the horns, the bounce and the lady’s intent. “I’ll Be Seeing You” is perfectly sad with an almost talking vocal and the first real use of guitar on the last snippet-of-a-titletrack rounds things out nicely.

Find Carsie here and pay exactly what you want for this little gem.