microphones in the trees: essie jain

Saturday, January 27, 2007

essie jain

"We Made This Ourselves, the first album by New York-via-London expat Essie Jain, is an insanely spare and sparse work. Accompanied by piano and guitar (as well as other instruments, like drums by Jim White of The Dirty Three), Jain's vocals breathe in the space between the words and phrases. The album sounds like she's surrounded by an entire orchestra, each member waiting patiently for their one moment to play, then fading again to stillness.
In 2004, she started recording at home with an eight-track. This gave her the freedom to experiment. She realized what she needed to do in order to create the sound she wanted -- nothing. Let the songs be roughly hewn. Keep them minimal. Avoid all indulgences. Let the music get as dark as it has to be. Her past few years' life experience gave rise to the lyrics that are so central to this record..." ba da bing!
"Haze starts like a secret prayer, a soliloquy, a slow grace of piano and voice. If that's all there was, it would be a very pretty song. Essie Jain's (full name, Essie Jain Wilkinson) hand is steady and her voice is keen and deliberate. She's restrained the way a singer who has operatic training is -- knowing it's all in the potential to push limits, but not necessary to constantly do so. And confident how women who daily navigate New York are (though she's originally from England). But something even more wonderful happens in "Haze," beginning just under a minute. Her voice thickens and pleats and the keys pick up their feet, lose their moorings, and gather plucked strings. It's a flowering that's torpid at first, but soon reveals brass that blazon brighter, chorus on chorus. Cymbals shower sparks. And as Wilkinson's voice rises and beams, "I am right behind you," it unpetals like a vivid pink rose open full to the sun. The song, in its bold, chromatic denouement, offers itself not just soul, but body." shake your fist
entrevista en dusted magazine
haze (buf, ese estribillo...)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Acabo de ver Volver de Pedro Almodóvar. Horas antes de que comience la entrega de los Goyas. Me parecería injusto que se le diera el goya a la mejor película. Es un reconocimiento injusto para esta película porque es una película con trampa. Almodóvar no es nada original y creo que tiene a una abuela secuestrada que le va contando historias que él emplea como argumento para sus películas. Mi tía-abuela siempre me cuenta historias como las de Almodóvar de Benimarfull.

Pedro si necesitas más historias para tus películas no dudes en ponerte en contacto conmigo. Pídele a los Pin y Pon mi número de teléfono o mi correo electrónico y te pones en contacto conmigo (antoni@interfase.es). Te alquilo a mi tía-abuela por un módico precio. Tiene historias cojonudas y además con aire mediterráneo "de la terreta", que tú que entiendes de estilos y modas ahora se lleva mucho.