Christina Courtin–Christina Courtin–Nonesuch

As anyone who’s caught one of Christina Courtin’s live performances can attest, the New York City–based musician decisively takes over whatever space she’s occupying, her long dark hair flying behind her as she paces the stage, her voice malleable and otherworldly, an irrepressible smile on her face throughout. It’s not simply youthful bravado but a kind of rapture that possesses her—the unalloyed pleasure of singing, connecting, pouring out as much of her heart as possible in an all-too-brief set. Making her Nonesuch debut, though, Courtin turns her high-voltage style inside out. Her self-titled disc is disarmingly beautiful and intimate, her voice at times pared down to a confessional whisper, yet it’s just as compelling as her bravura work on stage. There’s something beguiling about opening tracks “Green Jay” and “Bundah,” as if we’ve stumbled into a reverie already in progress. Courtin’s vocals are warm, gentle, and dreamy; she stretches out individual words in slow motion while chamber-ensemble strings wrap themselves around folk-rock-leaning melodies. As the disc progresses, darker, moodier sounds and emotions lurk around the edges of her songs. One gets the sense that turmoil lies beneath the surface, and that feeling becomes palpable by the seventh track, the tour-de-force “Laconia.” Metal-tinged guitar chords courtesy of Jon Brion push aside the string ensemble and Courtin’s voice turns startlingly raw as she repeats, like Dorothy in Oz, “How did I end up here, and how do I get back?” Perhaps this 10-song set is a mirror of the journey Courtin herself took, from her Buffalo, NY, home to a coveted spot at The Juilliard School to live-music stages throughout New York City, at both its grungy clubs and its fabled concert halls. Courtin had been studying the violin since she was three and was gifted enough to make it into Juilliard as a violin student. Yet singing had always been a covert passion. As Courtin recalls, “I was singing ever since I was little; I always knew that I could. It was like this secret that I had or something. It was weird—I was really, really embarrassed. It took me a long time to be public about it. I just did it for fun. When I was 16, I wrote my first songs and I thought, ‘All right, let’s make a record.’”

RIYL: Regina Spektor, Fionna Apple, Jolie Holland
TRY: #2, 3, 7, 8

Full Album Available Here:
https://www.piratepirate.com/downloads/

http://www.myspace.com/christinacourtin
http://www.christinacourtin.com/