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| I Kind of Like Lucy |
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| I Like Adrienne a Lot |
I've covered a lot of female artists lately, and while I like most and love some, Mrs. Jaybee is lukewarm overall. She doesn't like the ones who sing with a "girly" voice, and wishes they would "sing like grown women."
I could probably put all of these artists on a spectrum - starting with Phoebe Bridgers and ending with Bessie Smith, with Chappell Roan, Carly Rae Jepsen, Olivia Rodrigo, Angel Olsen, Sandy Denny, Kasey Musgraves, the Beths, Alvvays, the Illuminati Hotties, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, to name just a few, order them by girly-voice-ness, and find the dividing line between acceptable and not.
But it's not that simple. What about all the other pertinent qualities? Songwriting obviously matters. (Mrs. Jaybee has grudgingly come around on Joni Mitchell.) As do many other factors, each of which should be weighed based on its importance and pertinence. (At this point, friends from work would recognize a certain look in my eyes and say, There goes Jaybee starting another spreadsheet...) But really, how dare I think I can reduce my wife's taste, nuanced and thoughtful as it is, into a two-dimensional grid?
I'd sooner do that for my taste, which, come to think of it, would save us all a lot of time in the long run. Instead of writing rambling, nonsensical blog posts, I would simply publish my grid once, and upon hearing new music, indicate its coordinates on said grid and give a score. And when I don't like said score, muck with the numbers until I do. Easy and logical, right?
The thing about spreadsheets is that they encourage my tendency to postpone actual thinking. Now I hate to think as much as the next guy, but sometimes it just can't be avoided. I could lie, I guess, but I'm bad at it. It's one thing to write something that makes no sense, which can be construed as being unintentional. But it would be worse to write what I don't mean, especially when you, dear reader, can tell.
So perhaps it's better to focus on outcomes.
To a point.
Anyway, both Dacus and Lenker have distinctive voices. Not strong, mind you, but you sure do know who is singing right away.
Lucy Dacus: Home Video (2021)
Recently, while listening to Boygenius, Mrs Jaybee and I agreed that Lucy Dacus (below) had a lovely, deep voice. One would only naturally want to hear more of it.
Alas, like Emmylou Harris before her, Dacus is a much better backup singer than lead.
Her lyrics, though - and there are lots of them - are quite good, and worth delving into. It's just her voice doesn't break through quite enough to make them front and center.
I don't hear anything wrong with this record, but after having spent a couple of weeks just trying to hear it, I'm not sure I've heard anything exactly right, either. And it's that very voice that's keeping me from hearing the melodies, if there are any.
Mrs. Jaybee originally liked what she heard, but after about a half dozen listens, agrees with me - a rarity - that it all sounds the same. But thank you, Ms. Dacus, for contributing to our marital accord.
I hope I'll get to revisit this again, at which time I'll note an excellence that slipped past me this time around.
B
PS: Okay, okay, I figured it out. The first problem is that many of Dacus's songs are melodically similar. The second is that you have to play this loud to make out the differences. It is thus, Pretty Good.
B+
Adrienne Lenker: Bright Future (2024)
On another co-listening occasion, this time a Big Thief CD, Mrs. Jaybee may have told me to never play it again. I don't quite (want to) remember.
Adrienne Lenker is Big Thief's lead singer and songwriter. Together, they've made several records, one of which I love and another I wish I liked more. The former provides a perfect musical accompaniment to her voice, while the latter lays bare when things don't match as well.
One can't accuse Lenker of a gloss, though. Her voice is so fragile, you're afraid she's going to emotionally collapse mid-song. Further, she typically chooses minimal accompaniment for her songs, which could just a consequence of doing a solo album to begin with. The first song almost doesn't qualify as one, but she persists, and by the end, you believe it actually does.
And all the ones that follow more than qualify.
A-
