Blair

Die Young (Autumn Tone)

By Kelley Hecker
Published: March 5th, 2010 | 7:00am

Singer/songwriter Blair spent five years crafting Die Young, her debut full-length chock full of dreamy and often sugary-sweet pop songs. Half of the record was written in her hometown of New Orleans while the rest came about during a brief stay in California, a time she has described as isolating. Those turbulent months spent on the West coast are evident throughout the record; underneath Blair’s calm, airy vocals and pop arrangements are lyrics dealing with violence and uncertainty. Hell, the record’s named Die Young and track titles include “Rampage,” “Kamikaze,” and “Murder.” The excellent opener “Rampage” finds Blair repeating the title, her feminine voice balancing the harder music perfectly. On “Hello Halo,” she sings nonsensical word matches like “Kittens rainbows” before giving the listener a little nudge and a wink with “I don’t know what I’m saying” — a sentiment everyone can relate to at times.

“Candy in the Kitchen” is a fantastic dance tune unlike anything else on Die Young. With a drum machine keeping the beat, she sings, “I was dancing / To Whitney Houston […] And all my problems / Well this’ll solve them / I turned the sound up and I got down / Don’t stop dancing / This is your chance kid / You keep on dancing ‘til they get home.” Blair has proven she’s a capable songwriter with a real ear for pop melodies, and it’ll be exciting to see what she comes up with next. Here’s hoping we won’t have to wait five years.

Blair MySpace

Autumn Tone