MOG

When you see the word "self-taught" in an artist's bio, it's often a code word for "primitive" or even "barely able to hold a guitar right side up". The phrase "conservatory trained," by contrast, frequently stands in for stuffy, unnecessarily complicated and emotionally remote. Why can't people teach themselves well? Why can't they retain the honestly and punk directness of the autodidact while actually picking up some skill? It's an interesting question, which can also be phrased as: Why aren't more people like Shannon Wright? On her seventh-full length, this Florida punk turned indie songwriter sacrifices none of the rawness of her earlier material…but she has definitely picked up some chops.

For example, the first sound you hear on Let in the Light is piano, a subtle interplay between walking left-handed quarter notes and occasional higher right-handed flourishes. It's surprising, if you don't know already, when you find out that she's self-taught on the piano, because the music she draws out of the instrument is nuanced, classically-influenced and rather good. And in fact, a good deal of the complexity and the style diversity of Let in the Light can be traced to the piano lines…whether the Weimar caberet lilt of opening cut "Defy This Love" or the Elliot Smith-ish minor chords of "Idle Hands" or the luminous romantic waltz-time of "Steadfast and True" (which makes it sound like she's been listening to Chopin on the sly). The rest is here: http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/3651