Margo Guryan - Take A Picture Review

A PETITE LASS BEGUILES THE DOTING SUMMER SUN

Like a dim flicker of 60's counterculture, Margo Guryan's sole album Take A Picture captures that basking, carefree energy through distorted polaroid lenses. It is overwhelmingly warm. The type of warm that's less a temperate climate and more a feeling, as we see Guryan on the cover, eagerly anticipating a cloudless day from behind the weeping, glass-stained window. Tracks like 'Sun,' 'Don't Go Away,' and 'What Can I Give You' exude this spirit, beaming with the restless energy of spring before summer's assuasive arrival, if that makes sense. At times, Guryan's blissed out glee veers towards hyperbolized ballyhoo, representing the late 60's era of indulgent Sunshine Pop quite accurately. Hence why Take A Picture, arguably, works better as a time capsule for a bygone age than a single appreciative album. The versatility and self-awareness just isn't there.

But damned if Guryan's dainty, Doo-Wop-inspired vocals don't elicit a grin from ear to ear. These songs evoke the stereotypical naivety of damsels in distress. Except in Guryan's case, the distress merely stems from imperfect weather. There's an entire breakup song ('Think Of Rain') using rain as a conduit for loneliness and isolation, and while it works, the cheesiness puts it at the bottom of Take A Picture's barrel. In fact, much of the ballads ('Thoughts,' 'Can You Tell') tend not to work due to dated production that roots itself in mawkish Singer/Songwriter. The energetic romps, like the one-two punch of 'Sunday Morning' and 'Sun,' bring a galvanized vivacity to the proceedings, like stepping out from a winter's long hibernation under the now-blazing sun. While most songs adhere to Sunshine Pop tropes, 'Love' provides a temporary 180 into the land of Psychedelic Rock. Bronzed guitars fire lawlessly around crumbling structures before droning into Guryan's typical orchestration. It's a side-swiped closer that presents a different viewpoint of Take A Picture, one that lingers in the dog days of summer until red noses start to peel.