Marian Call is many things: a singer, a songwriter, a geek, and a friend. I’ve written about her many times, since a lot of her music is about geek culture (like Firefly and Battlestar, and living the nerd life)… and because she has a fantastic voice and writes brilliant lyrics.

And that’s why I’m so excited that she has a new album out: Something Fierce, a double-album of Mariany goodness.

Something Fierce is full of wonderful music. Some of it is geek, some normal, and some about Alaska. My favorite on the whole shebang is "Temporal Dominoes", which starts off with Marian wailing, and launches into a complex weave of lyrics about how life stacks up on you. It’s a very cool song, and not just because I commissioned the song from her for a plate of cookies^*.

The whole album is pretty amazing. And, to top it off, she’s done this whole thing herself, with support of her fans. No agents, no labels, no record companies: just her and her throng. When I was in L.A. a few months ago to film for a documentary, she happened to be there as well, and we were (barely) able to arrange getting together for a quick breakfast; she had to find a place to crash from a fan and then spent most of the night mixing the tracks. For all that, the album is professional, polished, and clean, and is, in my opinion, the best thing she’s put out yet.

But why believe me? You can listen to her yourself:

Temporal Dominoes by Marian Call

Convinced? You can also listen to the whole album online. From there you can also buy a CD or a downloadable file. I grabbed the download, and it’s really nice. She also includes a ton of photos and liner notes that are fun to go through. You might recognize a name or two there, too.

She’s also on Facebook, Google+, and her own site.

I think it’s great that there are independent artists out there working hard to make their own individual voices heard, doing an end-run around the gatekeepers that in many cases mediocratize artists. That’s one of the many reasons I support Marian, and I hope you will too.

^* This is true.