FAME
With all the techno-temptations and polyglot rhythms available to musicians and producers, it is a true credit to Jodi Shaw and Grammy nominated producer Steve Addabbo, that they have created an honest-to-God, good old fashioned singer/songwriter disc: Melodic, imaginative, poetic and -- here's one you don't see often nowadays - enduring. Jodi Shaw: just a girl with her guitar, her piano, her voice and her sense of space in the world.
An original hybrid of Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, and to these ears Natalie Merchant (though far superior in range and emotion than Merchant ever has or will render) Snow on Saturn's translucent lullabies sound like they are being performed right beside you, wherever you are. Play any song and be enchanted: Starling; the playful I Want To; the lyrical and melodic tenacity of The Singer. Savannah Smiles is an exquisite creation, full of color and life.
Shaw's unique ability to draw you into her quiet, lyrical space (where wisps of early Simon and Garfunkel play unfettered) even holds true when singing W.B. Yeats' An Irish Airman Foresees His Death and Stephin Merritt's inescapable pop gem The Book of Love ('The book of love / Is long and boring / No one can lift the damn thing. . . but I love it when you read to me.') All this results in Snow on Saturn being a must hear on Earth. Based in New York City, Shaw is a talent to watch for and hopefully, in the long run, return to.