CD: Straight Line
Christina Maria

Reviewed by Tony King,
Host of Alberta Morning and A Time For Jazz

Listen to samples from Straight Line:

Carolina
Travel Back In Time
What You Make It

From the opening cadence of Straight Line, Vancouverite Christina Maria undresses the listener’s senses with an incredible bravado that is at once ear catching and simmering. This seven song collection follows up last year's Stars & Satellites, a well received debut disc. Though the freshly engraved edginess is still present in Christina Maria’s sophomore album, there is a maturity evident in her voice that comes from spending the last 18 months on the road performing shows at every beer parlour and coffee shop in this fair country. Now, world weary glasses dawned, Maria looks inside for inspiration, matching her sweet irreverence with a certain sly incisiveness. What is really surprising about this seven song disc, is its cohesion. The album was recorded at seven different studios with unique producers, which in a lesser artist’s hands could lead to a fragmented train wreck, but though the themes of the disc are varied - everything from being on the road to discovering a friend spent time in jail for murder (supposedly based on a real relationship!) - there is a bitter sweet congruence to this set of tunes.