The EP title is immediately turned into irony by slowly twanging and moving instrumentals that emphasize each point about innocence and beauty, made by the talented New Yorker Randi Russo. The strong yet calming Heather Nova mingled with P J Harvey vocals in ‘Born Free Blood Flow’ have the ability to blow you away like a leaf in a down storm. However, the track builds up to tackle darker subjects of the monotony of life and the contrasting human emotions that exist in us all;

Feeling so much indignation over each and every obligation and

there ain’t any indication of when it’s gonna end.”

With each song on this 5 track EP weighing in at over the radio friendly three minute mark, Randi takes time to explore and build up a range of emotions with skill akin to that of Alexandre Dumas. The enticing and beckoning ‘Come Away With Me’ with its sprightly instrumental outro, ighlights better than any other track that Randi has adopted a more band intensive approach to music making than was evident on previous album ‘ Solar Bipolar’.

The maudlin blues nature of closing number ‘Locked-Down Fade’ will erect a reputation for Randi as a crafted, emotive, versatile and intelligent singer/songwriter who actually cares. Defying the trends of many offerings that are music's equivalent to fast food, this EP credits the listener with having an attention span and it is certainly worthy of a great deal of attention.

www.olivejuicemusic.com

www.randirusso.com

Check out Randi Russo live in Manchester at the Night & Day Café 05/07/2005

July 7th - The Betsey Trotwood, London

July 11 - The Windmill, Brixton

David Adair