Just north of the NC/Georgia state line lies Angela Faye Martin, a singer songwriter who with the help of Sparklehorse guru Mark Linkous has created a strong, ten song slab of backwoods weirdness that is as good as anything released on a major label this year.

From the beginning of Pictures From Home‘s opener “Strawberry Roan”, a creepy, one chord at a time slow builder featuring Martin’s vocals distorted and tremolo’ed all over the place, listeners are taken on a journey of songs that are not only interesting lyrically, but new little bubbles pop up musically all the time.

Linkous’ production isn’t so much the star on Pictures From Home as it’s a place setting for Martin’s increasingly interesting songwriting.  There isn’t a bad track amongst the bunch on the album, although a scant few feel weaker than others, but the odd blips and creeks that make even the bum notes worth a second listen.

Martin may still be growing as a songwriter, but the sounds she’s created on this album are worth taking notice of, and anticipating what’s to come.

Angela Faye Martin on the web