EILEN JEWELL ‘Gypsy’ – CD

$26.00 Inc GST

Available on backorder

Description

Eilen Jewell musically wanders all over the Americana map on her latest release, Gypsy. Sometimes she travels down the Kitty Wells/Loretta Lynn honky-tonk highway. On other songs, she snakes over a more rockabilly beat or a Western movie soundtrack cadence. And there are other cuts when she uses psychedelic steel guitar and fiddle sounds or sings over a polished brass accompaniment. Drumbeats propel her forward on one cut and then disappear as she drifts nomadically onto the next.

Jewell leads a tight quartet that blends influences of surf-noir, early blues, classic country, folk, and 1960s era rock ’n’ roll. She also plays electric guitar on her own record for the first time here. With remarkable maturity, she seems more interested in setting a mood and creating an atmosphere than showing off her chops. Her restraint reveals the depth of mixed emotions the songs convey. What’s not played frequently says more than what is.

By turns personal and political, pissed off and blissed out, Gypsy expands brief moments of joy into lifetimes, and distills epic sentiments and persistent doubts into succinct songs. Yet rather than pulling artist and listener this way and that, the tensions within and between these 12 tracks propel her eighth studio album forward as a remarkably cohesive full-length. A great achievement from an intriguing and creative voice.

*Also available on 12″ vinyl.