Selina Martin Life Drawing Without Instruction. Release Date : 2004. Label: Independent. Rating: Canadian. (Screw points. To each his own!) I wondered at first if maybe the first song would be a cover of Sade. But nope, it's a cutting, chippy-choppy, scathing, bitter girl singing a song about being sick of guys and whatever's doing the thinking in their pants. As the song, "Ordinary Love," explodes into a calliope cacophony, Selena Martin's voice takes on a Hawksley Workman character. That's basically where I go with this - if Workman happened to be the other gender, this is likely what he'd sound like. Despite the face-off lyrics, the songs are charming and feminine to listen to. "Don't Bring Me Down" is one of those songs where the vocals crack and the meter seems like it's completely off, nothing rhymes, yet somehow - it all pulls together and sounds neat. Childlike, as though you've just spotted a 4-year old singing and dancing carefree around her room, not knowing anyone sees her. The quirky-scratchy-dangerous sound continues. Sweet but energized. It's really fun. Not quite a hoedown, but close, with the strings and the jumpiness. I'm sure you could make a hoedown out of it, and the somewhat discouraging words hold up to the country thing. The Canada comes out on "Saskatchewan." I mean, anytime a singer starts singing about Saskatchy, you know it's regional. And that this will probably never fly in the US. Heck, even Armstrong gets mentioned in here. Well this is a very highly recommended disc for such things as hitch-hiking, cabin trips, and tractors. Oh, Canada. Song of choice : Digging "20 Miles" but the lyrics in "Saskatchewan" grab me, and the quaint, pokey, wandering-down-a-country-lane vibe of "Talk To Me" charms me to bits. -Andy Scheffler Elsewhere Selena Martin website Published : January, 2007.