Odetta Hartman, 222

Some music leaves you somewhat speechless, or at least that is my experience. Odetta Hartman and her EP 222 (Northern Spy 069) leaves me that way. It is Odetta, her somewhat quirky voice, her avant folksy banjo, guitar and violin and her partner Jack Inslee, sound artist and producer.

This is an elaborately produced soundscape that utilizes all that Odetta is doing, from newgrass bluegrassy to very beyond, adds electronics here and there and sampled effects for a decidedly unusual result.

It is space folk, or alt acoustic-electric, or...? It is haunted by the ghost of New York Bohemia somehow, and that makes sense given that Odetta grew up in the Village.

Well all that does not prepare you for what the experience of the music is like. It is all a product of what the words I write imply, but the specifics cannot quite be put on paper.

This is an artist who gives us a wayward folk-rock cut from her own cloth.

I come away from this album energized. There is much here to like! The EP whets your whistle for more. Encore! Is this the future? Who knows? It IS the present, anyway, a very interesting one.