Preference Recordings / US / RE 2022 / CS
"Last year, Captured Tracks released a compilation of rare, early self-released material from Baltimore singer/songwriter Linda Smith, bringing to the surface highlights from a scarcely heard but nonetheless stunning, mostly cassette released catalog. A handful of songs could be found on this 1988 release, named for its cover of the Burt Bacharach standard, "Do You Know the Way to San Jose"? But while mostly recorded with acoustic guitar, Smith's compositions are awash in dreamy atmosphere and psychedelic swirl, her steel-string strums informed as much by Syd Barrett and the Cocteau Twins as Dylan or Drake. It feels like harnessing a kind of magic, using simple and straightforward tools to make music that suggests something so rich and dense. It's an application of folk aesthetics in the service of blurring lines of genre altogether. - Jeff Terich, TREBLE ZINE