Kevin Bronson on September 5th, 2012

0

Erica Elektra’s electro-folk is full of sharp edges, soft sentimentality and, well, electricity – the musings of a protagonist who always seems to a step ahead of whoever might be yanking on her heartstrings. The combination of organic instrumentation and beats on her debut album “That’s Intense” at first might give you the impression that somebody brought a laptop to a front-porch hootenanny, but her co-producer and collaborator Dan Horne (who has a long resumé but was most recently spotted playing lap steel in Beachwood Sparks) helps it make sonic sense. Elektra (whose driver’s license reads Erica Salzman) came on the radar in 2008 as part of Hearts of Palm U.K., with Frankie Rose and Billy Kaye. The new album (out today) has a smile-inducing cover of 1982’s “Only You” by Yazoo, and Elektra tackles “Rhiannon” too, but her original melodies, over twinkling keys and twitchy beats, are sticky stuff too. Stay to the end for “I Will Fly.”

||| Download: “Heading West”