By Henry Lipput
Maia Sharp is a tomboy.
But Maia Sharp is also a singer; songwriter; guitarist; producer;
sax player; percussionist; and player of keyboards, synths, and Mellotron. And
she brings all of these talents to bear (along with friends who join her as co-writers, singers, and musicians) on her new album TOMBOY
(maiasharp.com/shop).
“Tomboy,” the first track on the album and the leadoff single, is Sharp’s look back on her early years when what she wore to a party was noticed by others: "I'm the only one here not wearing a dress/They're all Audrey and Grace, I'm doing my best." Upon seeing Sharp "mowing the meridian in my t-shirt tan" a neighbor told Sharp's mother "what a nice young man." As she grew up and become more comfortable with herself Sharp has come to terms with all of this: "Tomboy/Not really this or that/Somewhere in the middle of it/Tomboy/Is it still just a phase when she stays a tomboy."
Some of the thoughts in "Tomboy" have filtered down into the love songs that follow especially the idea "not really this or that/somewhere in the middle of it." These songs provide shifting perspectives on love. For instance in the sad but lovely “A Fool In Love Again,” Sharp sings “I’d drop everything if I knew where and when/I could be a fool in love again/I’d be swept away in my reverie/Every word poetry, every note a symphony.”
And although the
equally lovely “Is That What Loves Does” is slotted earlier in the album’s
track listing for me it’s very much the next chapter in the album’s story as it
relays the dawning of how a new love
makes one feel: “Same house, same street, same skin, same town/Same troubled
world spinning around/But nothing’s like it was/Is that what loves does?” Sharp’s
vocal is hesitant as if she’s afraid to even acknowledge what’s going on.
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