JENIFER JACKSON: Birds

Jenifer Jackson

Birds

© 2001 Fancy Junior Music, Bmi (4029758450024)

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Twelve gentle yet probing folk-rock tunes - a strong emotional underpinning softly tugs listeners through a myriad of feelings -- melancholia, resignation, learnedness; akin to a female nic

tracks

1 The Fade
2 Mercury, the Sun and Moon
3 Endless Green
4 The First Day of Winter
5 After the Fall
6 The War Is Done
7 Survival
8 Trouble Fire
9 Naturally Blonde
10 What You Said
11 My Impossible Love
12 Lullaby

notes

Regular readers of this column might have noticed my affinity for female singers with wispy, breathy, high-pitched voices. Maybe it's a result of my childhood exposure to Astrud Gilberto and high school obsession with the Cocteau Twins, who knows. But it undoubtedly helps explain why I adore Jenifer Jackson's new CD.
Jackson, a New York City-based singer/songwriter, is the daughter of legendary jazz radio DJ Julian Jackson, and her vocal style owes a lot to the school of jazz vocals exemplified by Gilberto, Blossom Dearie and Chet Baker: clear, vibrato-free and with a spun-glass delicacy that gives the lightest songs on the album, like the early-Joni Mitchell-style "The First Day of Winter," a shivery beauty. Imagine if Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval or the Softies' Rose Melberg could actually sing properly.
Musically, however, Birds has only a few jazzy elements--a Milt Jacksonish vibes solo here, a bossa nova beat there--in its mostly folk-rock-based, largely acoustic songs. "Trouble Fire," with its expressive harmony vocals by Alibi fave Josh Rouse, and the pure-country "What You Said" are more indicative: droning Hammond organ, slippery pedal steel, shimmering overdubbed acoustic guitars and brushed drums dominate these 12 songs. Producer Brad Jones gives the album a hazy, miasmic quality, especially on the near-psychedelic "Mercury, The Sun and Moon," that adds an ethereal edge to even the earthiest and most plainspoken songs. The results suggest what Hazeldine would have sounded like if they'd brought their moody, dark pop instincts to the foreground of their songs, or perhaps an alt-country Michael Penn. Dreamy and sensual and surprisingly substantial, Birds is an unexpected, genre-mixing surprise. --stewart mason

reviews

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  • author: CD Baby

    Like the tenderly drooping branches of a weeping willow, like the leaf that bows to the ground against the rain, like the butterfly that stops to light upon your outstreched finger, Jenifer weaves magically poignant pop songs that somehow seem to paint misty landscapes in the mind, touched by a bittersweet, condensed sweetness. With airy, skyward vocals and an overflowing toolbox of grooves and beats, this woman is injecting herself into the sisterhood of Norah Jones, Cowboy Junkies, Elliot Smith and Nick Drake adoptees. Totally charming. Check out all her albums on CD Baby.

  • Long day at work? Perfect remedy: hot bubblebath and Jennifer Jackson
    author: Tammy Sanner

    Perfect music for unwinding after a long day. Just pop in the CD, pour a favorite glass of wine, fill the bath with lots of soapy bubbles and get lost in the music.

  • If Folk music could dream.
    author: Tamara Turner, CD Baby.com Music Editor/Reviewer

    Like the tenderly drooping branches of a weeping willow, like the leaf that bows to the ground against the rain, like the butterfly that stops to light upon your outstreched finger, Jenifer weaves magically poignant pop songs that somehow seem to paint misty landscapes in the mind, touched by a bittersweet, condensed sweetness. With airy, skyward vocals and an overflowing toolbox of grooves and beats, this woman is injecting herself into the sisterhood of Norah Jones, Cowboy Junkies, Elliot Smith and Nick Drake adoptees. Totally charming. Check out all her albums on CD Baby.

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