Kelly De Martino

The very beautiful and very strange American, Kelly De Martino is a magnetic character. With a voice that Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star might envy and minimalist folk songwriting, slow and fragile, she unveils treasures of a marvelous and venomous beauty... somewhere between smoldering melancholy and starry epiphanies. -LES INROCKUPTIBLES Mysterious Cinderella, Kelly De Martino exudes a fully regal grace from the first bars of "Please Don't Call Me" which opens RADAR, her very first recording effort. Gentle voice, imprinted by a poignant crack, minimalist folk music crossbred from the Velvet Underground and sixties pop. -VOGUE A beautiful American, Kelly De Martino possesses the unabashed quality of the gorgeous stranger that we pass on the street. You have to be bold to ask, in the very first song, "Please dont love me, I'm not ready." The first album from this ballad-singing Francophile (Californian, lived in New York, composes in Paris, records in Bordeaux) doesn't aim for a quick seduction, doesnt risk everything on making an easy pass at you. Like on the albums of the Swedish Stina, she is, on RADAR, not afraid to stumble on an instrument that gets in her way. Plus, she works her fragile charm all the way to "My Little Fighter", the last caress on this disk of finest porcelain. The pop asthetes may just take this detour.