American singer-songwriter Courtney Marie Andrews has recently released her latest album Honest  Life. 

By Jane Howkins.

   Seattle singer-songwriter Courtney Marie Andrews recently released her sixth album Honest Life, and it’s fairly good, if lacking a little in the creativity department.

Andrews’ music is fairly typical of the singer-songwriter genre (which is broad in itself), but her music leans more towards the country side of things – although don’t be put off by that if you aren’t a country fan, her style isn’t the cheesy kind of country that so often pervades the genre. There are also folk elements in there, and at times we found ourselves especially reminded of Laura Marling, both in terms of vocal delivery and her guitar playing style (check out the first track Rookie Dreaming and you’ll probably see what we mean).

The main issue we found was that at times Honest Life seems a little… samey. Too often songs blur into one, and it can get a little dreary, with final track Only In My Mind especially so. The singer-songwriter genre is one that is overcrowded enough as it is, so in order to stand out, artists have to have something truly special, and we’re not quite sure that Andrews is there yet – which seems a little odd considering that this is her sixth album. That’s not to say that this won’t come in the future, as she certainly has talent, but a little more creativity and some upbeat songs would go a long way.

Honest Iife isn’t a bad album by any means, but Andrews’ music could perhaps do with a tad more originality and a tempo change the next time around.