Becca Sutlive – One Bedroom Apartment
In an age when it often seems as if musicians rush to record as soon as theyve mastered a chord change, Becca Sutlive showed remarkable (almost painful) restraint in getting around to cutting her debut disc. A solid contributor to the Iowa City music scene for several years, Sutlive routinely wowed audiences and musicians alike with her hip, deep songbook, nuanced, tone-cool vocals, and assured stage presence.
Sutlive recently relocated to the Bay Area, but before heading west, she finally took the studio plunge with a fluid group of homeboys including keyboardist Dave Zollo and members of Shame Train, the Letterpress Opry, Big Wooden Radio, the Diplomats Of Solid Sound and the Kelly Pardekooper Band. The majority of the ten Sutlive originals on One Bedroom Apartment work a midtempo, country-tinged folk-rock turf thats well-suited to her vocal style (which recalls a more youthful and flexible Sheryl Crow) and spunky, lived-in lyrics.
Sutlive and crew also demonstrate the ability to kick it up and rattle the glass on the sassy, Lucinda Williams-inspired hip-shaker Just Too Much, but the real showpieces are the delicate Bay Love, Good Life and Time To Go Home. Tapping into the languid, hypnotic regions mapped out on Van Morrisons classic Astral Weeks is not only daring but potentially disastrous, yet Sutlive pulls it off all three times, admirably maintaining the gossamer melodic core and emotional tension even as the pacing slows to a near-standstill. One Bedroom Apartment was a long time in coming, but worth the wait.