Review: Margaret Glaspy’s Tough, Urban Grip Energizes ‘Echo The Diamond’

Margaret Glaspy
Echo the Diamond
(ATO)
4 out of 5 stars

It won’t take long to hear New York City’s influence on Margaret Glaspy. The one-time Californian’s third album opens with “Act Natural”’s twisty, edgy guitar lick, somewhere between Lou Reed and Television, as the singer extolls the excitement of new love and a partner (in co-producer/guitarist Julian Lage) about whom she gushes You even sparkle in the dark/oh I can’t unsee it / Is this some kind of butterfly rebirth? / Are you from this earth? The crunching sound returns to the darker-hued, stripped-down guitar/bass/drums approach of her first album.

Although she’s in love, Glaspy’s far from timid about her thoughts, especially in the gripping “Female Brain” with the opening words of Don’t be a dick / I’m out here dodging stones and sticks as drums thump and her guitar chops and churns out shards of chords with a short, taut distorted solo. It reverberates with the tough, unapologetic, gritty urban groove New York infuses in many of its inhabitants. The music dials down a few notches for “Irish Goodbye.” The song is about a woman who sneaks out of a party after making an initial connection with a guy who thinks he might have a future with her. It causes him to question his intuitions with the beat slowly and methodically pumping as Glaspy sings, Was it something I said?/He wondered inside/All that I get are Irish goodbyes.

That sense of uncertainty in relationships imbues other tracks where the singer/songwriter keeps the music teetering on the precipice of rock and gloom, without tipping into either. Glaspy’s voice shifts from vulnerable to assertive, pushing the backing musicians to follow her instead of vice versa. Sometimes she radiates both as on the tense “Memories,” singing I’m alright of that I’m sure/Until I’m crying on the kitchen floor over a simmering, softly strummed melody that’s uneasy and a little menacing.

Lage’s jazzier impacts are felt in the intense “The Hammer and the Nail.” Here Glaspy sees herself jeopardizing her best interests for another person with It’s my wedding but you want the veil / Here I am the hammer and the nail to a powerful melody that feels just as ambiguous and lacerating as the words. 

This moodier, more prickly attack suits Glaspy’s voice, concepts, and vision. She aligns with other New York City performers who push into shadier, more extreme territory with a similar snarl, mirroring the insecurity, brashness, and honesty the area seems to instill in its finest artists.   

Photo by Ebru Yildiz / Grandstand PR