Classically trained Canadian-born Chrystyna Marie is a singer-songwriter originally hailing from Toronto. She has traversed the music scene, having supported many Ontario acts. She has also been featured as a demo singer on indie labels since she was 18 years old. Marie first became well versed in local theater, playing lead roles including West Side Story as Maria and Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. While in LA, she also founded the pop group, Greencat. But over the years, her dreams of a solo career began to grow more insistent.
While Marie finds music inspirational in everyone from Janis Joplin, Ottis Redding and Etta James to Selena and Christina Aguilera, she sounds more like a mixture of Amy Winehouse and Adele. Her high tempo blues is evident from the get-go in the title-track to the EP, Loaded Gun, where listeners can lose themselves in the grandiose and gritty style. The mixture of blues and pop music makes for a persistent sound. A touch of blues with grunge gives the track a wild sort of feel. Audiences will be blown apart by the music loaded in parts by gangly blues and rock.
“Down the Road” continues to display much of what was premiered in the first track. It is interspersed with a giant grating beat. The bluesy beat and inspiring storytelling really showcases Marie’s vocals and flair for singing in these blues-driving pieces. The raw subject matter that Marie sings about seems to really fit the dark recesses that comes to mind when hearing this track. Voodoo and things of spite seem to be not far from the horizon. This song seems to be geared toward these demented things. The abundant sound with its hints of pop and rock in the sound has a really strong backbeat that runs the gamut underneath the track, stringing along a solid foundation while underlying the lyrics and vocals.
“No More” is an impressive pop track. While Marie pleads with her love interest to give the lackluster relationship more time, she grows more insistent in her vocalizations. Her voice sounds more tender as the stormy affair pivots off of a driving backbeat. Following is “The Tower,” which is the last track to the EP. The intro includes a tilting piano melody. The riveting demands of this indie pop and blues rock track also has themes of Adult Contemporary within the song.
Chrystyna Marie’s powerful vocals really breaths in an inspiring spirit to her EP, Loaded Gun. Elements of blues with hints of pop and rock in the sound and add in Marie’s emotionally charged interpretation of the blues, and you get some really surprising music. Be sure you give the EP a listen. It was released Feb. 29, 2016.