SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: IZZY ORAM BROWN – MESS

Izzy Oram Brown
Mess
Independent

The influence late Elliott Smith left on quite a number of artists that started out after him seems to be much greater than can be gauged just by cursory listen. Often, it is just closely following in Smith’s footsteps, without going into deeper personal musical or lyrical explorations. Those can usually sound quite pleasant, but a bit superficial. Yet, when an artist picks up a cue from Smith and actually goes her or his own way, we get some quite profound and very often excellent music

The latter case in point is Mess, the solo debut album of Izzy Oram Brown, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, who actually combines a few other influences to trace her own, very personal way through introspective music.

Along with Smith and her own reference to Joni Mitchell and Judee Sill, as a guitarist (and an excellent one at that) Brown is obviously influenced by the jazz style of Bill Frisell, an artist that champions clean, uncomplicated sound, with Brown most evident on the excellent “Untitled 1.”

Yet it would be unfair to cite just one of the six songs here, as the quality level of Brown’s music is unwavering throughout this (sadly) relatively brief album.

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