Starkness is a quality that I hear in many Drag City releases of late… Smog, Untitled, Palace. This one brings in a bit more cheer than the rest though at least in the singing if not in the words. It’s still moody as can be and just the thing for young art students to latch on to for a while and then come back to later with deep admiration, reminiscing, and understanding the truth even better than before.

Four songs on this EP from a lady going solo. I lost the press sheet for this record (all apologies) so I’ll just give the opinion part. It’s a folk album and a sad one at that. I’m not into the music much but at least it ain’t that garbage that every bar in Buffalo specializes in on Friday nights. It’s original, something Buffalo knows almost nothing about - just look at our newspaper. If you like the traditional 6 string - the kind that switches from major to minor chords (I think), then this will be the sparkle in your eye.

Mostly acoustic guitar but a tad other instrumentation, and a very quiet voice but certainly not fragile are the two main ingredients of this ep. Unfortunately there’s only 4 of these very beautiful songs, all recorded straight from the demos. One can only wonder at how great a fully realized lp would be. I hear there’s one in the works. In the meantime this should be required listened while sitting in your back yard late at night, a cold beer sweating on the table next to you, and hundreds of stars blazing in a crystal clear sky above. God, I love summer.

In the finest bedroom-rock tradition, Edith Frost crafts personal, evocative songs that easily transcend the confines of the four walls in which they were spun. The four songs on Frost’s first release, a self-titled EP (Drag City), are demo recordings on which she’s backed only by guitar and Casio keyboard, but they seem to have absorbed a spooky, folk-tinged vibe that can’t have originated in her Brooklyn apartment. On "Blame You" she could be re-interpreting a blues staple, her voice graceful and crafty (not unlike Lida Husik’s), while on "My God Insane" she sounds like Kendra Smith in Opal’s earliest days — a weighty compliment if ever there was one. Frost is currently in the studio recording material for a full-length, which will hopefully surface later this year. But also in the bedroom-rock tradition, it’s hard to know when we’ll be invited in to hear her work.

The alternacountry uprising is gaining prominence, but darned if NYC songwriter Edith Frost is already bored with the whole thing. The four tracks on this EP show a decided country bent to them, but they collectively show how malleable the genre is. Edith Frost effortlessly shifts from the stark acoustics of the opening "Evangeline," to "Waiting Room" that would make both Patsy Cline and Steven Merritt of the Magnetic Fields proud. Frost sings with enough heart to get the topics over without drowning them, a tactic many hit country divas don’t understand. If the album is anything like this, expect her to suffer through reviews with the words "Golly" and "Yee-Haw" in them.

A singer-songwriter-folkie kind of thing. Sounds a lot like Liz Phair. I actually like Liz Phair.

This 2×7", complete with a neato gatefold sleeve, contains four lovely tunes by this up ‘n’ coming (or who knows — maybe she’s been around forever, and I’ve been in the dark for too long!) songstress. Ms. Frost’s first song, "Evangeline," shows off her soft and smooth voice, which kinda sounds like a non-smoking version of Liz Phair. The second, "Blame You," is full of country twang; Frost’s harmonies, which are layered over each other; and simple guitar strummin’. It’s as bitter as can be: ‘Tired of thinking so hard / You wanna talk about angles that you’ve thought about / I’m tired of fighting for air / …I’d rather blame you.’ The first song on the second record is my favourite; it’s the only one with accompaniment by Bill Neubauer on guitar. The recording style on this one is different, too: there’s a retro reverb effect similar to some Tarnation songs which are recorded in the same way as country songs were done back in the ol’ days. The last track utilizes the ever popular drum machine, making for a pleasant, spooky chanson reminiscent of labelmate Smog.

Every once in a while you see a performance by an unknown artist that makes you immediately want them to put out a record. Edith Frost had that impact last summer so it’s been a long wait for this EP. Though her performance was with a full band, this debut outing indicates that she has been making music in a solo homespun tradition for quite some time. The Brooklyn denizen spent her youthful days in the large state of Texas, an influence that shows in her often blues-y strums. The first two songs are acoustic guitar pieces with an edge of a traditional roots twang, while the other two branch off into a lighter, echo-y realm. The salient element of Frost’s songs is her charming, melodious voice, which is double-tracked and wrapped around itself on these songs. While the EP was worth the wait, it’s still not quite enough to sate our appetites. Until there’s more Edith, play the dejected guitar strums of "Blame You" or the dream-like Casio-tinkering on "Waiting Room."

The first time I heard the first song on this 4-song CD (also available as a double seven-inch), I thought I heard a "Penny Lane" thing going on. After a couple more listens, I’m not sure where I picked up on that, but it sure does sound nice. Edith’s sound is akin to Liz Phair and maybe Kendra Smith/Opal, which is to say she makes accessible, atmospheric pop. It’s just her and guitar on the first three tracks, but the production, which is filled out by an echo-y openness, gives the spare organization just the boost it needs. The last track replaces the guitar with synth noises, drum machine beats and double tracked vocals; it’s an eerie way to close such a sweet EP, but it works just the same. Recommended!

Edith and her guitar rustle up some solemn and beautiful campfire songs that harken back to Mazzy Star and Kendra Smith but are simpler and more basic and therefore more kick ass. Drag City released these demos "unadulterated" as they say so you can enjoy Frost’s otherworldly presence in its natural state.

This is creepy and pretty, but’s it’s both a very good time and a very bad time to be a singer/songwriter gal w. guitar. Good cause they’re clocking ducats, but bad cuz you can’t open your front door w/o knocking one over these days. Hopefully this ghost music will rise above the sea of sisters.

On Edith Frost’s self-titled debut EP, her delicate, chilly songs, accompanied only by guitar, lead one into an intensely private arena. This Austin, Texas native, transplanted to New York City, has been playing in various country and rockabilly bands since the early 1990s, and the rueful, warbling country ballad is an obvious influence on her work here. Frost wraps her entrancing yet minimal voice around an acoustic guitar, and it sways back and forth with the notes. She comes across as a saddened soul with a great hollowness inside, especially in "Waiting Room," in which spare, chiming keyboards keep a slow beat. It’s a quiet and empty atmosphere — beautiful but stark. What it reminds me of most is any number of famous, tragically flawed heroines who are lovely and elegant on the surface, yet troubled fallen princesses inside. These tunes go straight for your heart and burrow there.

Just a light frost on the windshield; if you rush by too quickly you’ll miss the offering from Edith Frost. While the major labels are positioning themselves with the female demographic by pushing female prepackaged bland acts like Sheryl Crow, Drag City found Edith Frost giving a first, short glance at her work.

Frost, like several of her labelmates, is a singer/songwriter/guitar player. Frost captures the organic feel of a voice accompanied only by guitar in a dusty, old hall. The guitar playing embodies an organic sound and the disheartened "I’m feeling the strain of these times" is genuine. The keyboard of "Waiting Room" is in the vein of Stephen Merritt and Magnetic Fields. The four tracks don’t provide enough to go on for a long range prediction, but this release offers evidence that there are female singer/songwriters lurking in the shadows.

The kindly yet mesmerizing voice of Edith Frost bellows anesthetizing melodies to seal up the eyelids. Her mission is to relax the listener as her dual-textured voice mingles with her sparse acoustic guitar chords in almost a new age style as on "Evangeline." As lazy summer days come our way, Frost holds out the olive branch and offers up the ultimate cooling device.

Something in me would like to say that Edith Frost is an acquired taste, probably because the discs that end up with the most spinning time in my CD player usually take awhile to pull me in. Edith Frost’s self-titled debut, however, is instantly catchy. The four-song EP opens with "Evangeline," a quiet, toe-tapping number that sounds vaguely like Syd Barrett during one of his more sober moments. As she "sings in the bluish air," her voice dropping and rising with each word, it’s hard not to make this connection.