What a joy is Daphne Lee Martin’s Moxie. This part one of a two-piece and has a street date of February 19th. This record is in the vein of Trickster Fox  and Dinah Thorpe’s “12” that we reviewed a few months back with hints of Florence + the Machine. The sister EP Frost is soon to follow, until then take a listen to Daphne.

There is a haunting cabaret at the outset and that general theme continues throughout.  “Sweet & Low Down” has a Dick Dale-like guitar melody swamped in reverb that adds a lot of depth in the mix. “Belly” also has some tasteful and fun guitar licks. Once the chorus hits the mix tightens up around the vocalist who is comfortable yet adventurous on the entire set of tunes. A few other stand out tunes include “Whiskey and Sin” and “Whispers” which has a nice dub backbeat and golden age of radio chorus backups to Daphne’s vocals. The songs venture in and out of styles while making frequent and atmospheric use of effects.

Moxie plays like a group of musically gifted gypsies picked up whatever instruments were closest when the red light brightened. The occasional presence of muted horn parts to transition is particularly nice. Producer Bill Readey of Fuzzy Rainbow Productions makes this recording shine. Guest appearances include John Panos of Mates of State and Eric Stevenson from Pocket Vinyl, among many others.

It’s a fun record hear, sounds like it was to make as well. This is the first major release of 2013 from Telegraph Recording Company though they also recently put out collections by Fake Babies and Bedroom Rehab Corporation.