JEN PORTER: It's About Time

Jen Porter

It's About Time

© 2002 Jen Porter (634479253737)

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Powerhouse vocals over piano-driven rock with life & love-centered themes

notes

When I first decided I was ready to tackle recording my second album, I knew which songs would be on it, but that was all I knew. I didn't know where I would record, who would help me produce the album, or when it would be ready to sell. Some of the songs on the album have been in process since 2000, the year after my first album "Faces" was released. Since then, I've known that I wanted my sophomore effort to have more exposure and to reflect the forward direction my skills as a performer and as a songwriter have taken. "It's About Time" makes me so proud as a singer, a musician, a songwriter and a person in general.

In January of 2002, I performed in a showcase called the Chicago Singer Spotlight. After the show, I was approached by a musician/producer named Matt Feddermann, who not only liked my tunes but also thought he could bring good production to them for my album. Now, nearly 11 months later, Matt is finalizing the mixes, finishing the songs many others and I have been working on for so long now.

The title reflects not only a thematic thread that runs through the lyrics of many of the songs, but also the necessity of the album itself, of having new material, of having something new for my friends and fans; without them I'd be nowhere now! It also exposes my own feelings about finally getting the second effort out on the streets for you to enjoy.
Gentry Newsletter, Dec. 2002
For more information on Jen and her career, go to www.jenporter.com/bio.htm

reviews

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  • Deep, earthy, rock and soul!
    author: Ann

    I've listened to it in the car driving every day since it arrived in the mail about a week ago. I heard the samples on CD Baby and there was no question. I had to have it. The more I hear it the better it gets... and the farther I tend to drive just to finish a song or two. The music is deep, earthy and definitely provokes rock and soul!

  • Jen has a true Janis Joplin feel to her deep, soulful, very rocking voice
    author: Gail Worley - StarPolish.com

    Jen Porter’s piano-driven, bluesy rock has a very distinctive 70’s art-prog sound. This is partly owed to the flute accompaniment on “How It Feels,” which always reminds me of Jethro Tull. Jen has a true Janis Joplin feel to her deep, soulful, very rocking voice; but you will also hear qualities of both Natalie Merchant and Tori Amos in her phrasing. “How It Feels” has a jazz swing to the beat because of her drummer’s time keeping on his hi-hat, and that adds a nice texture to this very appealing performance of a perfectly arranged song. And how can you find any fault with a woman who apparently held a crowd of 40,000 Detroit Pistons fans in rapt awe as she performed an acapella version of the National Anthem? She definitely has a voice with commercial appeal and a great band. Her songs may be a bit too good for the radio (i.e. too complex), but with more mainstream material (maybe working the Norah Jones vein) there’s no reason she couldn’t be huge.

  • "Her firm and soulful voice impassions the daily routine that sometimes seems to
    author: Ashley Chappell - Indie-Music.com

    The Milky Way, the center of our galaxy, points toward Sagittarius, the zodiac sign depicted as a centaur skillful at archery. In Greek myth, this half-human, half-horse creature is renowned for his wisdom and healing abilities. Those born under the sign of Sagittarius are also known to be philosophical, as well as optimistic, honest and freedom-loving. I think Jen Porter was giving me and other listeners a clue about her strong second outing It’s About Time by wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with “Sagittarius” on the album’s cover. Just as skillful at playing piano as the centaur is with his bow and arrow, Porter is captivating by finding true purity in voice, lyric and melody. Her full-bodied voice is akin to Ani Difranco, Natalie Merchant and Bonnie Raitt, as is her style – a bold, refreshing combination of foot-tapping rock, country and folk. The Chicago-native spins tales of intimacy and independence, self-expression and struggle in a very womanly fashion. But no matter the subject, Porter’s instrumental experimentation is what achieves the song’s desired tone. In “Another Day,” a tune that reminds its listener of the opportunities in need of discovery, she asks “why the searching can be better than the find” and answers herself with a quickening electric guitar, while a smarting piccolo sarcastically floats through “How It Feels,” in which Porter demands a more secure and shared love. However subtle the breath of a flute, or simple the prodding of an acoustic guitar, both dramatically infuse “Dance of Time” with the simplicity and sensibility its lyrics aim to convey: Time is all you have and all you have to give / Patience comes to those who in their hearts can live Not to live with prejudice, not live with hate / Only we can determine our fate And if we listen to the quiet inside / It can breach the divide It’s About Time is simply that. In roughly 40 minutes, Jen Porter traverses our common obstacles and reminds us of what lessons they teach. Her firm and soulful voice impassions the daily routine that sometimes seems to trap us. The constellation of Sagittarius is believed to be 29,000 light years away from earth, but Porter’s words hit much closer to home.

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