Blink the Brightest (Tracy Bonham)

[Rob]

I've been a fan of Tracy Bonham's for years. I was aware of the song "Mother, Mother" off of her 1996 album "The Burdens of Being Upright" but I really became aware of her music when I attended a Ben Folds Five concert (one of their last before Ben went his own way) and she opened for him. She came out in tight leather pants and started rocking the place with a neon green electric violin and I was hooked. Several years later when I got to meet and speak with her after a gig in the Bronx I discovered how nice she is. "Blink the Brightest" is her third full length studio album but she has released several EPs along the way and in fact used the funds from her excellent EP "Bee" to fund the recording sessions for "Blink the Brightest" after her label, Island Records inexplicably dropped her. The songs are more soulful and folk than her previous efforts but it's hard to categorize Bonham's music into one little area. "Dumbo Sun" is a humorous tale; "And The World Has The Nerve To Keep Turning" is an angry, slinky cry to the heavens; "Whether You Fall" is as sad as it is inspiring and "Take Your Love Out On Me" is a fun love song full of innuendo. If you like music that is a little off the beaten path with instruments and arrangements that you may not normally hear together, first class lyrical work and a lady with a great voice you can't miss with "Blink the Brightest."