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 Caught in the Carousel "There will be music despite everything"
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Megan Burtt
It Ain't Love
Independent
Megan Burtt's It Ain't Love is an intelligently nuanced, deftly written, and skillfully accessible collection of contemporary folk rock. She sings in the range of Shawn Colvin and Dar Williams, and her voice has an effortless maturity. Her lyrics are sharp and smart, at times wryly observant, playfully funky, and gently poignant, and the woman can play. From out of nowhere (okay, Denver CO), Megan picked up a guitar at an early age and eventually made her way through the Berklee College of Music. She has two EPs in her catalogue; It Ain't Love is her first full-length CD. Like Colvin's Small Repairs, Burtt seems to be working through some tough, timeless issues—loving and letting go, finding strength after a hard fall:"Settle Me Down" ("You've got all the cards /Except the right one"); the funky pop "Habit" bemoaning the allure of the wrong love; "It Ain't Love" ("Never see until it's drawn/All the dots you connected wrong"). Like a lullaby from hell, "Moves" tries to wake from a bad dream ("All my bargaining won't get me /Back to the place I've been"). "Other Side of Lonely" begins rebuilding ("I won't break for you"), and "Too Damn Hard" rebels ("Too damn hard to love you/Too damn hard to try"). "One Wing" closes the CD with a heartbreaking arrangement that left me speechless. Out of twelve very strong tracks, my favorite has to be the quiet "Waited For June," an elegant and poetic string of what-ifs. It Ain't Love is a fresh Tapestry. Wear it and see.
—Lyn Dunagan
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