Stacy Clark’s debut album, Connect the Dots, will be released on August 10th on Vanguard Records. With record label in mind, I sort of expected a Folksy affair for her first outing but what you get in reality is an up tempo, acoustic-ish, album with elements of Katy Perry Pop spread just thin enough that you have to listen a few times before it hits you that it’s the driving under force of the album.
Clark is certainly not immediately striking. As a matter of fact, I just couldn’t get into it on the first spin but as I spent some time alone in my car with Connect the Dots, I started to pick up some of the underpinnings that make this album pretty interesting when you really start to dissect the way Clark connects different styles of music. “Fireworks” is a great example as it certainly has the Poppy goodness of early Lisa Loeb and “it” girl Katy Perry but it also has this lovely Beatles bounce and a Disco drum beat leading the chorus along. It’s pretty impressive when you start really listening hard- I’m pretty sure I even here a tuba way down in the mix. The first single “Touch & Go” couples with it, reminding me musically of the Burlesque style of Amanda Palmer and Ben Folds first few albums without sounding completely like either. The same can be said of “Not Enough” (which has some pretty awesome piano work as well).
Not everything here fires on all cylinders (the second half of the album definitely has more than it’s fair share of ups and downs) but it’s certainly all interesting if you are willing to spend some time with it. It’s a solid little Pop album that offers surprises in all the right places and certainly leads you to believe that Clark has something great in her future.
I would also like to note here that Clark is “Buffalo born” but hails from Southern California. Call me crazy but you can hear Buffalo in this album- it’s that same “just left of the mark” sound that you can hear in everyone from Goo Goo Dolls, Leah Zicari, and Ani DiFranco to The Molotov Cocktail, Cannibal Corpse, and Herrod. If you are from Western, NY you will hear it immediately.
Reviewed by Mark Fisher
