Jennie Vee
One of this blog's favourite artists (here and here for instance), Jennie Vee, has been rather busy this year. Not content with opening for the Manic Street Preachers during the East Coast leg of their "The Holy Bible" tour, she's also been the touring bassist for both Courtney Love and Tamaryn. Since then she's crowd funded a tour Europe (Disclaimer: yours truly was one of the projects' backers), released her debut album "Spying" and as has just kicked-off her West Coast tour...
Jennie Vee is a learned scholar of UK Eighties post-punk new wave and so it's no surprise that the "Spying" hits you with a heady mix of Robert Smith and Will Sargent inspired sonic goodness, as if The Cure and Echo and The Bunnymen had got together to form a session band. But - and as anyone who has ever listened to Jennie Vee will attest - there's far more to Jennie than a New Wave tribute act. She may - as I've previously suggested - subscribe to the theory that "Moderne, c'est déjà vieux", but she most definitely has this uncanny knack of distilling the essence of everything that made the early Eighties such a great time for guitar-fuelled indie-pop, before throwing in a few influences from this side of the pond (despite "Britishness" to the guitars, there's a definite American indie feel in both the structure and melodies) before topping everything off with - frankly - utterly gorgeous and harmonious vocals... For all the instant rush of the guitars, it's more than worth hanging onto the lyrics; the verses walk an emotional tightrope before they dissolve into one of Jennie's soaring choruses that are married to her ethereal, floating vocals. The song feels like a seamless continuation of those from her two EPs, perfectly encapsulating the musical ethos of Jennie Vee.
"Wicked" hits you in the solar plexus with a chugging guitar riff and a throbbing baseline that would out hook a certain ex-New Order bassist - anyone who's seen Jennie with either Courtney Love or Tamaryn's will already know that she's as familiar and comfortable with four strings as six - all counterpoised by the most marvellous and uplifting of a honey-drenched chorus that appears from absolutely nowhere before borrowing deep into your skull. Throwing in a distinctive shoegazy bridge and nice vocal chord progressions, the songs Lyrics play upon the old adage that "...There's no rest for the wicked..."
There are some glorious shimmering guitars woven throughout the introspective "Toys" - a three-quarters throttle of a song that veers firmly in the direction of nineties American indie - which features a deceptively hypnotic chorus. In reality the song allows us to get our breath back before Jennie launches into the bouncy west coast indie-pop that is "Dreamtime." Again there's all those trademarked Jennie Vee touches - the catchy hook, ridiculously sing-along chorus - and a nice change of pace about two-thirds that features toe-tapping rhythm-setting percussion. It's the kind of song that is made to be listened to in an open top car driving along the PCH...
"Delicious" hits you with a crescendo of pedal-to-the metal guitars and manic metronomic drums. Behind this wall of noise Jennie's breathless vocals berate her departing and soon to be Ex - who while he may think he's God's-gift; "...you're so delicious baby..." she sneers - is going to miss the girl he's leaving behind. The song also features a middle-eight full of resplendent swirling guitars and a nice change of direction towards the close thanks to a subtle injection of dreamy indie-pop sensibilities; one which will have you bouncing around the room when you think no one is looking...
Jennie Vee is a learned scholar of UK Eighties post-punk new wave and so it's no surprise that the "Spying" hits you with a heady mix of Robert Smith and Will Sargent inspired sonic goodness, as if The Cure and Echo and The Bunnymen had got together to form a session band. But - and as anyone who has ever listened to Jennie Vee will attest - there's far more to Jennie than a New Wave tribute act. She may - as I've previously suggested - subscribe to the theory that "Moderne, c'est déjà vieux", but she most definitely has this uncanny knack of distilling the essence of everything that made the early Eighties such a great time for guitar-fuelled indie-pop, before throwing in a few influences from this side of the pond (despite "Britishness" to the guitars, there's a definite American indie feel in both the structure and melodies) before topping everything off with - frankly - utterly gorgeous and harmonious vocals... For all the instant rush of the guitars, it's more than worth hanging onto the lyrics; the verses walk an emotional tightrope before they dissolve into one of Jennie's soaring choruses that are married to her ethereal, floating vocals. The song feels like a seamless continuation of those from her two EPs, perfectly encapsulating the musical ethos of Jennie Vee.
"Wicked" hits you in the solar plexus with a chugging guitar riff and a throbbing baseline that would out hook a certain ex-New Order bassist - anyone who's seen Jennie with either Courtney Love or Tamaryn's will already know that she's as familiar and comfortable with four strings as six - all counterpoised by the most marvellous and uplifting of a honey-drenched chorus that appears from absolutely nowhere before borrowing deep into your skull. Throwing in a distinctive shoegazy bridge and nice vocal chord progressions, the songs Lyrics play upon the old adage that "...There's no rest for the wicked..."
There are some glorious shimmering guitars woven throughout the introspective "Toys" - a three-quarters throttle of a song that veers firmly in the direction of nineties American indie - which features a deceptively hypnotic chorus. In reality the song allows us to get our breath back before Jennie launches into the bouncy west coast indie-pop that is "Dreamtime." Again there's all those trademarked Jennie Vee touches - the catchy hook, ridiculously sing-along chorus - and a nice change of pace about two-thirds that features toe-tapping rhythm-setting percussion. It's the kind of song that is made to be listened to in an open top car driving along the PCH...
"Delicious" hits you with a crescendo of pedal-to-the metal guitars and manic metronomic drums. Behind this wall of noise Jennie's breathless vocals berate her departing and soon to be Ex - who while he may think he's God's-gift; "...you're so delicious baby..." she sneers - is going to miss the girl he's leaving behind. The song also features a middle-eight full of resplendent swirling guitars and a nice change of direction towards the close thanks to a subtle injection of dreamy indie-pop sensibilities; one which will have you bouncing around the room when you think no one is looking...
"Real eyes" offers a change of mood and a gloomier, dark-wave sound. Drums and a pulsating bass are to the fore while guitars are layered over one another to create a noisy, shoegazy backdrop. Once again though there's a vivid contrast to with Jennie's honey-dripped and multi-tracked vocals on a song which features yet another of her classic choruses and hooks. Definitely this album's slow-burner... And it's impossible not to fall head over heels in love with "So hard" - a gorgeous tale of heartbreak and loss - and a song that is conjoined to swirling guitar, ethereal vocals, subtle echoes and - stop me if you've heard this before - a knockabout chorus that I suspect Jennie churned out in her sleep. Bloggers have suggested that this could be the most radio-friendly track on the album and - although this says more about the state of FM radio here in The States - you can see where they're coming from. Given my lack of enthusiasm for US radio this may come across as a bit of a double-edged compliment, but it really does pack everything you'd want to hear in a song - especially if I'm stuck in the parking lot that is the 405... The song also works really well in tandem with "Sleep it off" as it kicks-off to a synth drum-like precision and twanging bass grove that is as good as any I've heard. The song certainly features the album's sweetest, most harmonious nailed-on pop - Abba-esque - chorus (which having briefly discussed the merits of Abba with Canadian indie-pop maestros Alvvays, is the highest compliment I can possibly give...)
But having flirted with shoegazy darkness Jennie finally channels her JAMC angst quite magnificently for "Kiss the dust" and a track that suggests that she really can turn her hand to just about any guitar-driven indie genre. Deliberately downbeat, moody, the whole tone of this song - even down to her gravelled vocals contrasts with the honey-dripped, ethereal sighs found elsewhere - suggests that there is a far darker side to be developed...
But having flirted with shoegazy darkness Jennie finally channels her JAMC angst quite magnificently for "Kiss the dust" and a track that suggests that she really can turn her hand to just about any guitar-driven indie genre. Deliberately downbeat, moody, the whole tone of this song - even down to her gravelled vocals contrasts with the honey-dripped, ethereal sighs found elsewhere - suggests that there is a far darker side to be developed...
The album closes with "Rock n Roll" - but not perhaps in the tour-de-force way that you might expect. Indeed the song sounds like a cover of a song by one of those "cock-rockin'" AOR bands, whose label every now and again would release a 'power-ballad' to ensure they remained in the consciousness of FM radio. And while Jennie gives the song a semi-acoustic feel the trick is once again to listen to the lyrics - at one confessional, nostalgic, mournful - the life of a jobbing musician can be both pleasure and pain....
I've previously eluded that at times Jennie is the 'light' to The Raveonettes 'dark' - indeed this album is a dreamier and melodic reflection of Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo's hard-edged, Lo-Fi noise-pop world. Strip away these songs' warmth and you could easily imagine some of them fitting seamlessly into The Raveonettes' back-catalogue.
"Spying" is as assured an album as has been released this year. I'd go further and suggest that it is the type of album that could only be conceived by somebody who is not only a keen student of the indie and alternative genre in all its many and varied flavours but also by someone who has served the time and learnt the craft. Every song on this album demonstrates the art of the guitar. It helps that she has the knack of crafting the most perfect of multi-textural guitar-driven songs, can compose the most infectiously catchy of tunes while effortlessly knocking out killer hooks blind-folded...
Jennie Vee (Website), (Bandcamp)
"Spying" (Bandcamp)
I've previously eluded that at times Jennie is the 'light' to The Raveonettes 'dark' - indeed this album is a dreamier and melodic reflection of Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo's hard-edged, Lo-Fi noise-pop world. Strip away these songs' warmth and you could easily imagine some of them fitting seamlessly into The Raveonettes' back-catalogue.
"Spying" is as assured an album as has been released this year. I'd go further and suggest that it is the type of album that could only be conceived by somebody who is not only a keen student of the indie and alternative genre in all its many and varied flavours but also by someone who has served the time and learnt the craft. Every song on this album demonstrates the art of the guitar. It helps that she has the knack of crafting the most perfect of multi-textural guitar-driven songs, can compose the most infectiously catchy of tunes while effortlessly knocking out killer hooks blind-folded...
Jennie Vee (Website), (Bandcamp)
"Spying" (Bandcamp)
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