Pure Motive
NUMBER #19 IN THE EUROPEAN AMERICANA CHART
NAMED BEST ALBUMS LIST OF 2006 - FREIGHT TRAIN BOOGIE U.S.A.
'Marisa Yeaman has slogged it out for the last ten years, not only building a loyal audience and a reputation as a skilled writer and proficient performer, but she's also collected a few heavyweight musical accomplices along the way. On her debut album, Pure Motive, local legends Dave Steel, Andrew Pendlebury and Ed Bates contribute some intriguing instrumental moments. However, without Yeaman's heartfelt and personal tales of life, those musical contributions wouldn't mean nearly as much. While many of the artists covered in this column are developing their craft, for Yeaman, all the components seem to be in place. All that needs to occur now, is for a larger audience to find her.'
AUSTRALIAN MUSICIAN MAGAZINE Greg Phillips
4 STARS
Pure Motive is a showcase of the artist as she initially earned her chops: a girl, her guitar, and her songs hitting the festivals, clubs, and pubs across the expanse of Oz. Somewhere along the way she tagged up with guitarist and sometime co-writer, Andrew Pendlebury, who also lends occasional vocal enhancement to complement a voice that is predominantly gentle and melodious, at times almost torchy, as in 'Lonely Puppet'. The duo generates a sound that is unique and complex in its apparent simplicity, but there's more depth here than initially meets the ear. Yeaman's not a rocker by any means, but, when she decides to cut it a bit loose, there's an edge surfacing that has the hallmark of, say, a Joni Mitchell, or, more precisely, Mary Chapin Carpenter, in her Shooting Straight in the Dark days; for that matter, 'Vacant Sign' would fit right into that CD's groove in every sense. With lyrics the likes of reading: "Some things in life can be easily defined; but love and danger draw a thin line", she has that essential ability to present a concept or feeling in the most precise package possible, saying, to paraphrase an old quote, 'the mostest, with the leastest'. Now that's the hallmark of good songwriting. FREIGHT TRAIN BOOGIE REVIEW - USA, Don Grant
'ALL HITS-NO MISSES'
'A very beautiful pure songwriters CD with a spread of acoustic songs. The beauty is in it's simplicity.'
MAZZ MUSIKAS - Belgium, Ben van Hoegaerden.
Marisa Yeaman has a big advantage over peers who manufacture imagery for urban street cred; the singer soaked up the outback, bush and coast in her childhood when her family hit the road in a caravan. It wasn't exactly rabbit and fox hunting on the Nullabor but it was a world where family love and radio ruled, and TV was an opiate for less fortunate city dwellers. So it's no surprise that on her debut album, after a brace of EPs, she creates organic bliss untainted by fads, fashions and synthetics. Marisa's voice is a vibrant vehicle that steams her speeding train from the evocative entree Watching Fire Burn to her finale, a live cut of Gasoline & Fire.
With sweet serendipity, she co-wrote the former with guitarist and co-producer Andrew Pendlebury and cut the latter, replete with her accordion, as a live demo. But rather than spoil the spontaneity, they left it virgo intacta, akin to other live tracks Holy Water and Lonely Puppet. The singer's creative freedom is a rich withdrawal from her paternal memory bank in No Fences; her long deceased sire encouraged creativity, not conformity.
Like so much of the purest music created in this radio backwater, it's another worthy contender for sleeper of the year. So who does Yeaman sound like? Well, listen to original cuts of so many folk and country hits before the studio doctors drained their lifeblood for the droogish demands of the industry. Nail a heathen to the cross and indulge in Yeaman's Pure Motive.
BEAT MAGAZINE - Australia Dave Dawson
"Our Discoveries"
Sensational Artist from the Southern Hemisphere
When the first notes of Pure Motive come from the speakers it sends me back to 1989. This independent debut album of Australian Artist Marisa Yeaman makes me think a lot of 'Southside' the debut of the Scottish band 'Texas'. Marisa's voice reminds quite a lot of Texas-singer Sharlene Spiteri and also the guitar work resembles that of early Texas. That is no unpleasant association, as Pure Motive is also a great album. An album with nicely melodic yet strong songs, with pop accessibility, whilst firmly maintaining a considerable amount of roots sound (especially folk and blues). Songs that captivate immediately, yet hold their appeal. Pure Motive is a CD which in fact grows with more listening. A powerful voice, and completely tasteful acoustic orchestration (with a special mention for the guitar work and contributions of the pedal steel and the dobro) and songs that do not bore, being the strongest weapons of a CD which deserves every chance in The Netherlands. A chance we intend to give Marisa Yeaman. CD now in stock. PLATO - The Netherlands
'Intriguing, this somehow seems immediately Australian and has the same feel as the work of Ed Kuepper or The Triffids, the same sound that seems to exist on the edge of a great nothingness, suggestive of wide-open spaces. The songs themselves, like the novels of Tim Winton, seem to be hewn from a specific sense of place, one that is universal but nonetheless rooted. 'Another Day' has all the elements of a Nashville blockbuster.' AMERICANA UK David Cowling
'Her very bluesy acoustic music touched with traces of folk or alt.country, she sings with a warm voice, beautifully suited to these very poetic lyrics. Lyrics about passionate love, sometimes fulfilled sometimes not, with real feeling, lyrics from someone who, without doubt, has been blessed by life. To discover.' LE CRI DU COYOTE - France Roland Lanzarone (Translation kindly by Sharon Betson)
'PURE MOTIVE -FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH'
"Marisa Yeaman is a singer/songwriter/musician from Downunder, with travel as her favorite subject. Her parents sold their house when Marisa was four and the family traveled through Australia by caravan. This was still possible in the seventies...The song 'No Fences' was written about that time and is a classic from Pure Motive, her debut album. Marisa's beautiful voice reminds us of Rosanne Cash. The songs are sometimes recorded with guitars only, accompanied by piano and accordion and sometimes with a full band, but always good!"
ALT COUNTRY COOKING - The Netherlands, Johanna Bodde
'Australian Marisa Yeaman made her first visit to Europe this past summer to play a series of gigs in Holland, where she has built a sizeable following for her rootsy, backroads music. Her first full-length album Pure Motive is a very organic record made for the sheer enjoyment of making music. She ranges from intimate confessionals (Little Girl Lost) to compelling folky-type tales (Solid Ground) but to each, she brings a universality that makes for compelling listening.' MAVERICK - UK
'The complete album is pure and unpretentious, with a convincing timeless sound. The songs offer a strong foundation because Marisa has mastered her songwriting lessons before here well. It is obvious that Yeaman's way does not seem still for a long time to end.'
HOUSE OF ROCK- Germany, Frank Ipach