disclaimer: i did notwrite any of these articles...all claim goes to the publishers
Articles
HM MAGAZINE/october.november '99
CCM MAGAZINE/october '97
RELEASE MAGAZINE/october.november '97
Album Reviews
CCM MAGAZINE/november '97
*new*
MUSICFORCE.COM/june '99
HM MAGAZINE/october.november '99
Musicforce.com
It's always refreshing to come across a young artist who seems not only to have a grasp of current musical vocabulary, but also has a sense of musical history. Angie Turner is such an artist.
She comes by her musical knowledge and ability somewhat genetically. Her dad used his talents to minister with rock music when Angie was a kid, and her brother Shawn helped launch Johnny Q. Public. And let's not forget Angie's husband Oran Thornton (co-producer with Shawn and JQP's Dan Fritz), who has his own career going as a mainstream pop artist in the band Flick.
After discovering her gifts as a teen, performing for her church youth group and singing invitation music at Johnny Q. shows, Angie somewhat reluctantly recorded the demos that led to her delightful 1997 Myrrh debut,
100 Million Eyeballs.
Abuzz with an alternative rock vibe and sparked by Angie's effervescent personality, her debut earned the 22-year old comparisons to everyone from Cyndi Lauper to Blondie's Debbie Harry. Now a seasoned 24-year-old tour veteran, Angie returns with
Triumphantine
...and she's not only style checking current sounds, but liberally borrowing from 30 years of rock history. This highly creative project mixes modern techno keyboards and drum loops with live, low-fi drum tracks and keyboards which sound descended from psychedelic "Summer of Love" bands like The Doors and Iron Butterfly. It's a smorgasbord one might call "techno trash"--and I mean that in a good way!
Angie is not a rock-and-roll belter, but her delicate, quavery voice is well suited to her straightforward lyrical approach. As a writer, she seems as comfortable penning lyrics that address her marital relationship ("Neater Cooler") as she does eternal concerns ("Like Lightning"). The piano-driven "Like Lightning" certainly qualifies as one of the most unique sounding praise choruses I've ever heard, as does "2222", a cautionary pop tune that warns the listener to flee evil, because, as Angie also warns in "Getcha," the forces of evil are never at rest.
Although raised in a Christian home, Angie admits to being somewhat of a late bloomer in matters of faith, a confession reflected in "I Love Light," one of the catchiest hooks on the disc. Angie's best vocal wafts over the worshipful closing track "Doom," whose pretty guitar and baroque keyboard form the album's simplest yet best arrangement.
It's somewhat disappointing that the album clocks in at only thirty-one and a half minutes. After the first few tracks, it becomes a fun guessing game wondering what production bells and whistles are going to come buzzing out of the speakers at you. But unlike many of her contemporaries, Angie avoids the "sophomore slump" by making each one of those minutes count.
-Bruce A. Brown
HM Magazine
As everyone knows, if a band plays all the time, they're going to get better. Well, it also helps if you've got a great singer and good songs. Miss Angie benefits from all three. While the first record was straight, basic, in -your-face rock & roll, this one's a little more eclectic, borrowing from pre-comeback Blondie, and bearing vocal and instrumental similarities to Plumb, among others in the genre. "Jesus Get Me" is a breathy plea to be completely taken over by Christ, and it smoothly sugues into "Let's Get Together," a song about falling in love. Other similarities might include the cute pop song "Don't Go Gettin" to those of Morella's Forest, and the song writing in "Dancing In My Head" is akin to that of Chris Taylor. "Like Lightning" is easily the most beautiful track, due mostly to the plesant piano and strings, but the song lends itself well to this instrumental combination. The subtle electronics and the fuzzy, ultra-low bass here belie the mellow nature of the song, but give it a very modern feel. If you liked the first record for it's rock & roll, there's plenty of that on Triumphantine, but look out for even more fun sounds you will not have expected. But no matter how she does it, Miss Angie pulls it off well.
-McGovern
