Tania Notaro
Blind and Bound
Review by James Lindsay
Tania
Notaro,
a
Dublin
based
singer/songwriter released her debut E.P.
‘Blind and Bound’ back in 2014. The four
track collection showcases Notaro’s own mix
of rock, blues and jazz. For ease of
categorisation the style is ostensibly rock
music. Word has it Notaro is influenced by
Janis Joplin and Grace Slick, so the par is set
high from the get go.
Kicking off the EP is ‘Someone Has To
Come’ which is suitably titled due to its sultry
blues tone and slow pace. The track is smoky
and leaves a considerable void for Notaro’s
vocals to fill which works really well. She
commands the space and it has a drawing in
you in nature about it.
The only thing I felt was the track could have
built up more aggressively and there is a part
where a build is imminent but it falls a little
flat. A good example of getting it right is
Zeppelin’s ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You.’ If
you like that track you’ll appreciate what
Notaro and her band are doing here.
Moving on, ‘Always Wanting More’ is a nice
departure from the down-tempo ‘Someone
Has To Come’, with a more innocent and
bouncy reggae vibe. The vocals are
unfortunately more aggressive than the track
requires and a bit blare-y for my taste. Having
said that the music is spot-on and I’m sure it’s
a great live track as most reggae styles
translate really well in a gig scenario with
good vibes!
‘We Are Lost’ is an intimate piano ballad and
draws you in to the voice again. The piano and
voice reign dominant in this song. It’s a
beautiful track and with some slightly glossier
production it could easily be a chart-able
number. The only thing I found was it had a
perpetual build about it that never really came
to fruition.
The vocals got a bit more aggressive and kind
of worked but the music never reached that
peak so you didn’t get the payoff you would
expect from a world class ballad. I think this
track could have been more if the music was
written to get to that place and finish with a
bang but instead it just kept going at medium
intensity. It seems like a missed opportunity
here but writers never stop writing so there’s
always next time.
‘Blackened Trees’ is the final track from the
3.0
‘Blind and Bound’ E.P. It has a dingy blues bar
sound to it and really suits Notaro’s tone. This
type of sound doesn’t do much for me
generally as you can hear it in any blues/rock
bar on any given Sunday so it is hard to engage
with it fully. The 12 bar blues is a well beaten
path so I do find it amazing that so many bands
try their own stamp on it, it’s just so difficult
to draw the artist out from it. For this track I’d
have to plead ignorance and advise any blues
lover to give it a whirl but I think unless you
are a dedicated blues artist it is a bit of a dead
end.
‘Blind and Bound’ is Tania Notaro’s debut
E.P. and it draws from many styles and comes
across as a solid understanding of rock music,
but not necessarily as it is today. This is very
much a collection of bygone eras and seems
intentionally so.
Notaro is a very capable singer and writer
with a great band behind her. If you enjoy rock
music from all decades then you will certainly
relate to ‘Blind and Bound.’
If you want to catch Notaro live she has a
regular spot in the Gypsy Rose in Dublin every
Thursday.
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