First Listen: Kristina Blanchflower “The Angry Axe”

There is an innocence to the tone of Kristina Blanchflower’s voice. It’s refreshing. Her music is percussive, with a heavy strum and thumps and beats from a variety of percussion instruments. It moves and varies from fleeting moment to fleeting moment. I get inflections of Ani DiFranco ala ‘Out of Range’…perhaps a bit more upbeat and relaxed though…particularly in the opening track of the album.

As the record rolls on, I consider faint resemblances to Brett Dennan in the character of how she phrases her words and her voice naturally breaks. Its calming in a way, but she possesses power at the same time. She has strength in her vocal and uses it selectively and intelligently, for most impact and only where needed. Smooth but with a natural crackle that really stands out.

There is a happiness to the sound of Kristina’s tunes. A lightness and good feeling to the tone of her voice. There is a nice variety to the 6 songs contained on “The Angry Axe”, some stuff a bit more even keeled, while tunes like “Angry Axe” are a bit more assertive and hard hitting.

A good listen, so go on ahead and check it out for yourself.