Give Me a Little... by Kristi Martel

Her musical vocabulary is wild and varied without ever being beyond control. The only thing wrong with this album is that it is too short. It is actually a 4 song CD that works to wet the appetite for this smart-hearted artist. -- Patrick Arena, Outvoice & PittsburghOUT, February 2001

When Kristi Martel was three she sang to salt and pepper shakers atop tables in restaurants.

Her family encouraged her to do this.

Everyone in the restaurant would clap.

So she kept singing and making up harmonies and began piano lessons with a strong desire to be a famous musician.

Today, Kristi Martel is an avant-pop piano diva with a sweet presence, stunning vocals, intricate piano rhythms, and fearless songwriting.

"...love emanates from every note." - Vienna Teng

"Incomparable!" - Utah Phillips

"Damn!" - Cesca Waterfield

Voted RI’s Best Female Alt-Rock Vocalist in 2006 by Motif Magazine, avant-soul piano diva Kristi Martel grew up in New England and left in 1990 to earn an ASCAP grant and two music degrees (Bard and Mills College) in NY and CA before returning home to RI in 2003. The visionary soulsinger choreographed performance art and composed vocal music to tell stories about relationships, cultural identity, body image, and body memory before beginning her touring and recording career in 2000. Her sweet presence and fearless songwriting endear audiences nationwide.

A finalist in many of the top international songwriting competitions, Kristi's piano playing combines her love of blues dissonance and syncopation with her classical training. Her voice is at once sweet and bitter, able to leap and soar, whisper and rattle, expressive of any emotion she chooses and fluid throughout her 4-octave range. She is visionary in her lyrics and composition, writing her prayers for solace and quirky relationship narratives in the same breath.

Through Sealed Lip Records, Kristi has released five CDs, most recently the homespun limited edition demos for her forthcoming studio album, Ravengirl. “Ravengirl” is Kristi’s goofy joke superhero name for herself, her recognition of the crazy blessing it is that she felt joy everyday, amidst the profound grief, after her former life partner’s suicide in 2003. The album is full up with that joy, with the healing and transformation Kristi has undergone to be singing still so powerfully today.

discography:

Ravengirl (LP 2006)

Quaint & Curious Ravendemos (LP 2005)

The Mule (LP 2004)

bound (single 2003)

brave enough (LP 2001)

give me a little... (EP 2000)

Average Customer Review: 5