Carsie Blanton's Got Backbone

Her new EP effectively introduces her to unfamiliar audiences in less than 11 minutes.

Carsie Blanton introduces herself on her website. She shouldn't have to - she has three albums out dating back to 2005, but since she's new-ish to New Orleans, it serves a purpose:

I live in New Orleans, I’m from Luray, Virginia, and I lived for the last six years in Philadelphia. I am on tour for about half of each year. I love love. I blog about sex. I also love tattoos, jasmine tea, Vargas pinups, good books, and Lindy Hop. I am unschooled and happy about it.

And that's just part of a paragraph. She talks about her tastes, what people think about her music, who she's opened for and toured with, all of it linked to create a pretty dense entry into her musical world.

On the other hand, her recent Rude Remarks and Dirty Jokes EP is extremely economical - three songs that efficiently state her case for why you should be paying attention. She's still about the hard sell; before 30 seconds pass in the urgent, bouncy "Under Your Thumb," she asks "How do you like me now?" twice. "You didn't like women who didn't play dumb / well how do you like me now?" she asks again later, and the song and EP make her intelligence clear.

Blanton's EP reflects a strong, unabashed sense of self, one she backs up with smartly phrased, well-observed lyrics and songs that show them and her voice to their best advantage. A lovely descending guitar line brightens the folk rock "Trigger Finger," and an acoustic bass and drum groove give "Backbone" a subtle, sexy funk in keeping with Blanton's playful vocal.