By the time the former Stefanie Gleit started recording her second album, Survival, in 1999, she was going by Stefanie Fix (her married name). Three years passed between the release of 1996's Footprints in the Sky, Fix's debut album, and the first sessions for Survival -- and it's clear that the singer/songwriter did some growing as an artist during those three years. Footprints in the Sky was a decent, if uneven, outing, but on Survival, Fix's writing is consistently stronger. The songs on this folk-pop/rock CD have more of an edge, and one hears a more confident, more focused Fix emerging on "Bitterfool," "What Happened Here?," "Pretty White Veil," and other memorable selections that she wrote herself. The only thing on Survival that Fix didn't write is Bob Dylan's "Oh Sister" -- she doesn't do a lot of covers, but her passionate remake of "Oh Sister" lets listeners know that when she does provide the occasional cover, Fix knows how to make it count.
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