Lush with supportive strings, lilting vocals and a warm timbre that evokes the imagery describes the lyrics, Christina Martin‘s distinctive voice doesn’t so much sing a song as it does paint a picture. The title track, Two Hearts, starts with a solo guitar that leads into her vocals, and later followed by a layer of strings. The instrumentation stays simple through the whole album, letting her voice take center stage. The general timbre of the album feels like the songs make for a perfect soundtrack to a TV drama. I mean this as a great compliment. While I was listening, I could imagine it playing over some scenes from shows like Gilmore Girls, Alias, or even Smallville. The album is very… evocative, almost cinematic in its presentation.

Christina Martin’s album has flavors of folk mixed in with just enough soft rock and country to deserve being on loop while kicking it back at home, or going for a lazy drive. While it isn’t exactly my typical daily listening genre, her album falls into that rare overlap of adult alternative and singer-songwriter that is honest in its poppishness, earnest in its lyrics, unpretentious in its country leanings.

Highlights: I like the first track, Two Hearts, and the last, China Box. You Come Home is pretty cool but its lead-out about a gift that had “better be nice and big” is vulnerable to gutter minds like myself and its unintentional genital humor. Besides that, it’s recommended listening, and way better than the bigger names in the adult alternative genre.

Christina Martin will be playing at Tealove Teavolve in Baltimore, MD on Monday, April 20th. She is also on Facebook. I received a free review copy of this album.