Distinctive debut for Nashville songwriter- Iggy Pop meets Judy Garland.
It’s not easy to make a mark in the music business these days with a sound that’s not only original but also successfully blends different styles. Yet that’s exactly what Nashville via Detroit songwriter James has achieved with this wonderful first album. Her pedigree is fascinating – she’s toured with Anita Baker and Nikki Lane; worked production for Buddy Miller and Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys; and even shared the stage with [ahem] Michael Bolton. So her musical influences range from classic sixties girl groups like The Shirelles and The Marvellettes to Roy Orbison, Billy Holliday and even Guy Clark – mixed with a healthy dollop of punk ethos. A heady and fascinating mix.
James wonderfully reveals that “when I listen to this album, I imagine hearing it in that theatre from Mulholland Drive, ideally with an audience of eccentric weirdos and misfits. A room filled with true music lovers who dig the b-sides”. Now that’s my type of listener. Hearing the eclectic range of numbers on this album reminded me of The Ravonettes on many occasions. We open with ‘Company’ and we have acoustic strumming mixed with latin percussion and some gorgeous violin work from Billy Contreas – who apparently brought along 13 different individually named violins to the recording. ‘Party Doll’ was written as a honky tonk song – but ends up being a piece of classic Blondie style pop with joyous guitar work. It’s about the way we mask heartbreak and it’s fantastic.
A wonderful slice of classic rock’n’roll appears on ‘Steve McQueen’ which is about the time when James was living with ‘an old cowboy singer”, who used to watch Steve McQueen film marathons. It’s got rollicking guitars, a wonderful organ solo and enough ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ to satisfy any Spector fanatic. There’s a lovely surf instrumental – ‘Surf’ – and a superb laid-back rocker – ‘Losing Side’ – an anthem for life’s misfits which is both touching and slightly sad – but in a buoyant way.
The album was produced/engineered and mixed by Andrija Tokic, who also produced the Alabama Shakes album ‘Boys & Girls’ and he’s done a magnificent job here. Another shout out for bassist and collaborator Jack Lawrence and guitarist Matt Menold, who both significantly contribute to the high musical quality on these tracks. This is a confident, personal and highly individual album, that makes the listener desperate for more and is as fine a debut as anything released so far this year.
