A singer worth noting

Reviewed March 2010

Who still issues singles on vinyl anymore? Apparently, singers with a love affair with the craft of creating classic pop sounds.

San Diegan (and transplanted German) Maren Parusel has a new 45 rpm single out, and the two songs on it are both charming bits of the purest form of rock-era pop. Grounded in gorgeous arrangements that are framed around Parusel's Audrey Hepburnesque singing voice, both songs feature decadent main themes – the sort of immediately catchy little figures that get stuck in your head and make you want to listen to them again.

Side A's "Dear Love" is a bit dark in both its lyrical content about slow heartache, and in the structure. Yet like a lot of songs about love gone wrong, it's balanced by a sweet melody.

"Days in Universe," the B side, is much the stronger tune. Charmingly offbeat in its arrangement with impressionistic lyrics, the song has a dreamlike quality only heightened by Parusel's gentle vocals.

Two songs doesn't seem much in the way of introducing yourself to local music fans. And there aren't any dee-jays to impress on local radio nor jukeboxes to stock with her 45s.

But there are two wonderful songs here, and a singer worth noting.

Review by Jim Trageser. Jim is a writer and editor living in Escondido, Calif., and was a contributor to the "Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD" (1993) and "The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Blues" (2005).