Labels: self released
Review by: Oli Saunders
I saw Jo recommended on Collective in a thread on acoustic folk and checked out her music. Impressed, I asked her for a copy of her recently released EP which has turned up today. Now I sit at work about to review it. It’s a end of what has been a pretty good day and whilst I should probably just go home and eat pizza I have just enough time to get this review in. Here goes…
Jo plays simple acoustic folk, a genre that I have become increasingly fond of in recent times. I normally go for artists that sound as melancholic as possible, there’s something incredibly powerful about sad sounding songs that are pretty minimalistic, as long as its done well of course. Whilst my friends tell me to turn it off as it’s too depressing I pretty much can’t get enough of it, whatever mood I’m in. It does tend to put me in weird moods though, kind of the opposite of when I listen to Screeching Weasel. Acoustic guitar, nice finger picking or chords and a good voice along with decent lyrics, that’s all I’m asking for. Jo has all of these things thankfully.
‘Bit Of Zen’ is a nice start to the EP, it’s quite face paced and things stay interesting throughout. Jo herself adds backing vocals to the recording in places which works pretty well. Onto the second track ‘River Pinn’, this is a stand out for me, lovely finger picking with a violin added to the mix in places. The rest of of the EP continues in similar form, it’s unlikely to blow you away but the songs are all very enjoyable. ‘Spectacular’ is a good finish to things, one additional thing I’d say is that Jo has a good vocal range and utilises this well throughout.
Overall, really solid stuff which is worth checking out if you like this kind of music.
21st August 2009