Less Makeup, More Marketing

  It's a familiar curse: a beautiful woman, made more glamorous by record company handlers. Oh, she sings? And she writes her own songs? Hmm. When will the music industry wise up and realize that the artists it signs - based on the songs they write and sing - just might become successful in spite of their personal style and attractiveness? Conversely, when someone happens to be attractive to begin with, why dress them up even more? Case in point: the simple, appealing songs of New York-based singer-songwriter and natural beauty Bree Sharp.

  Already a British hit, the first single from Sharp's debut release, A Cheap and Evil Girl, is an ode to X-Files star David Duchovny. Roll your eyes if you must, but take away the pop culture references and the TV star obsession, and "David Duchovny" is still undeniably catchy and clever. And you can extend that description to the whole of her shining debut.

  A Cheap and Evil Girl is driven by Sharp's acoustic strumming, but bolstered on several songs, including the engaging "Smitten," by a full electric band. Light-handed production, by a rotating roster of board masters, allows her pointed lyrics and smooth vocals to rise above whatever din she's creating with her band. On "Not Your Girl," Sharp allows a bit of Alanis- like vitriol to creep into a song that owes as much to country's twang, as it does to rock's rhythmic bounce. And on "Faster, Faster," she pays homage to B-movie legend Russ Meyer as her voice rises and falls against a click-clack rhythm track, declaring "Faster, faster, I'm a trashy motorcycle beauty."

  At the tender age of 23, Sharp has a long career ahead of her in which to grow and develop. And if her juxtaposition of reality ("Smitten," "Not Your Girl") and fantasy ("Faster, Faster") continues, her well of songwriting inspiration isn't likely to run dry. A Cheap and Evil Girl offers a refreshing first taste of what Sharp may become. Substance over style, what a novel idea. If only her record company could understand.