After the expected December release date came and went, singer/songwriter Erin Manning finally released her second EP, Back and Forth, April 23. Given that Manning is yet another female singer belting out I’m-not-in-love songs behind a keyboard, it would be easy for her to get lost in the jumble. But with grandiose piano-driven melodies laced with jazz and Latin dance influence as well as a wordy, analytical lyrical style, Back and Forth is a small, six-track piece of proof of Manning’s staying power.
The first two tracks introduce rich instrumental texture, with strings and hard-driving piano sounding over a Latin drum tap in “Let It Go,” and then Manning’s full-bodied voice and thundering piano parts are softened with backing vocal harmonies in “Solar Eclipse.” A collection of influences converge to create her eccentric , key-driven pop craft including a Tori Amos way with the piano and a Santana-like affection for salsa and tango rhythms. Even Alison Krauss sort of work with the violin creeps in unexpectedly, like on the opening track or the EP’s most mainstream, breezy pop number, “The Difference.”
But Manning’s voice is a powerful instrument in itself and delivers her plain and truthful yet poetic song craft. The standout is the sultry bottom-falling-out tango in which she sings, “If love can come undone from following the rules/and giving in to the push and the pull of a person who left when I screamed no more/I should’ve known before you pushed me back and forth.” The album closes with gentle, eyes-cast-down ballad “The Cruelest Thing” tapped out lightly on the keys as she sings, “It’s got to be the cruelest thing when someone takes away what they once so freely gave.”
Manning airs out her dirty laundry infectiously and belts out her breakup stories with a vocal style similar to Amy Winehouse, managing to dress up the mainstream with colorful, campy and vaguely seductive instrumental style that reflects her Louisiana roots. Back and Forth doesn’t transcend pop, but it surpasses the mediocrity often produced from the voice-and-piano combination. – Jessica Pace