Edith Frost
It's A Game
Drag City (2005)
Despite Edith Frost's typically lengthy list of collaborators, It's a Game sounds more like a solo effort than 2001's robust Wonder Wonder. But that air of solitude after four years of silence has less to do with her sparse arrangements than with her melancholy, lovelorn subject matter. "A Mirage" finds her clutching to the shimmering memory of a bygone relationship, while she bemoans her search for an equally broken-hearted companion on "Playmate." While some cuts are eerily reminiscent of other artists (the interlocking vocals on the title track reek of early Liz Phair, and the lilting choruses of "What's the Use" recall Aimee Mann's plaintive coo), Game brims with Frost's conversational, intimate tone. Rather than a collection of weepy lovesongs, the album portrays the confidence of a woman for whom independence has become an obsession.
-Catherine P. Lewis
.: Originally published: Harp Magazine: December 2005
.: It's A Game on Amazon.com
