Thin Line

After ten years of struggling in the San Francisco Bay Area rock scene, Noelle Hampton nabbed a spot on the 1998 Lilith Fair and became an overnight sensation when Apple used a song from her self-produced debut, Under These Skies, for their first commercial. Nonstop touring followed, then she moved to Austin, Texas, with her husband and musical partner, guitarist André Moran. There depression set in. She quit music for a few years, but pulled out of it when "Here on the Ground," a song from her 2002 EP, 5 for the Road, was licensed for the ABC show Men in Trees. Hampton and Moran returned to the studio, this time taking a more confessional country direction, and Thin Line is the result. The album was recorded at Congress House with producer and bass player Mark Hallman (Ani DiFranco, Carole King), who keeps things from sounding too glossy. The tunes deal with broken hearts, betrayal, and obsessive love, but Hampton's gift for uplifting melodies keeps things from sounding too grim, even on "Blackwing Butterfly," a song that flirts with death in the aftermath of a failed relationship. Moran's twangy electric slide guitar work lifts the mood and Hampton's vocals have a stirring Southern gospel feel. Moran's twang-drenched guitar also drives "Danny," the album's darkest tune. A stalker threatens suicide unless the object of his deluded affection talks him down from the ledge of a dingy hotel. Hampton gives the lyric an understated reading, letting Moran's sinister bluesy guitar and Hallman's B-3 augment the dramatic scenario. "Safe from Love" is a futile song of seduction, sung to an obstinate lover. Hampton pours out her heart with Hallman's B-3 providing funereal accompaniment. The set closes with a cover of U2's "Love Is Blindness." Hampton gives the song a simmering, torchy treatment that's just as intense in its own way as the original. ~ j. poet, Rovi