From In The Shadows

Shelby Starner is a 15-year-old singer songwriter from Pennsylvania. For the most part, her songs and music display a maturity well beyond her tender years. This, her debut album, is one of the best releases thus far in 1999.

Starner will probably be aligned with the Joni Mitchell-to-Jewel tradition, though it's a little unfair to reduce her to the level of comparison. She's a unique voice. To already have a distinctive sound and be able to disguise her musical influences is a major achievement.

The brilliant opening track, 'Fall', begins with some weird industrial sampled noises, as if to establish from the outset that Shelby isn't merely your typical piano and acoustic guitar troubadour. On most tracks here those instruments are only used as starting points for a full band accompaniment.

The outstanding track is 'You'. If ever a tune testified to this youngster's old head and wise heart, then this is it. Anyone who has ever been in a relationship will be astonished at Shelby's insight and sagacity.

Starner's resistance to easy melodrama is one of the most impressive aspects of From In The Shadows. There is no over-the-top emoting, but there is craft and subtlety in abundance.

Shelby Starner can be huge without compromising her art to the shallowness of music industry's big buck greed. We might be talking about one of the greats here. But remember, the French poet Rimbaud wrote all his poetry before he was twenty. Stars sometimes shine brilliantly, but only for a short time.