A review by Lydia Anderson that appeared in the May 1997 issue of CMJ New Music Report…

"I sing the blues ‘most every night," sings Edith Frost on her album’s opening cut, "Temporary Loan," and the subdued blue tone of this song glows throughout her debut, which offers a very personal, very solitary version of the blues. Echoing the four melancholy tunes on her EP of last year, these new songs tip-toe in different directions, touching upon folk, blues, country and artier strains, but are always anchored by Frost’s breathy, but confident, voice. While she recalls other plaintive-voiced singers, Frost achieves her own distinctive voice: She has a higher, sweeter sound than Kendra Smith, and an earthier, less ephemeral tone than Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval.

Given the indie-luminary status of her backup musicians on Calling Over Time — Gastr del Sol’s David Grubbs and Jim O’Rourke, Eleventh Dream Day’s Rick Rizzo, the High Llamas’ Sean O’Hagan, as well as Rian Murphy (member of Plush, Palace, Mantis, and the disc’s producer) — it’s notable that the arrangements here present Frost’s songs relatively unadorned, dressing them in such simple clothes that the personality of their maker shines through freely. Frost’s vocals and gentle acoustic guitar playing are accompanied variously by piano, bass, organ and bits of percussion, establishing a consistent mood, even as the songs vary from more upbeat (relatively speaking) numbers like "Too Happy" ("I don’t wanna be too happy/just enough to keep me goin’") to moodier pieces such as "Follow," the singsong-y "Denied" and "Wash of Water." Also try the lonesome sound of "Pony Song."