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CD REVIEW: Jenn Lindsay - A For Effort
By Chip Withrow - 08/08/2008 - 11:45 AM EDT
Artist: Jenn Lindsay
Album: A For Effort
Label: No Evil Star Records
Website: http://www.JennLindsay.com
Genre: Alternative Folk/Pop
Production/Musicianship Grade: 9/10
Overall Talent Level: 9/10
Songwriting Skills: 9/10
Performance Skill: 9/10
Best Songs: Kinda Guy, Drag, Catnip and Kryptonite
CD Review:
Jenn Lindsay’s pop/folk songs are charming and personal. The gems on A For Effort are the musical equivalent of pages in a diary – pure, confessional, adorned with delightful flourishes. Lindsay plays almost all the instruments and handles all the vocals.
A For Effort contains its share of power-pop numbers. “I Am Breaking With You” is a fun opening declaration with a dreamy synth line, and “Kinda Guy” boasts spry guitar and giddy vocals. “Paper” and “Land of Bad Ideas” are other delights.
Lindsay also veers into gauzier, folkier territory: “Drag,” “Choose Me Back” and “Supposed To” are wistful and pretty. “No Foul, No Harm” is simple and stark, a fascinating call to a higher power.
Other interesting turns are the bluesy “Second Wind,” the Beatle-like “Breakthrough” and the funky, jangly “Catnip and Kryptonite.”
Lindsay’s observational lyrics are one of her strengths, for example: “I turn round the telescope, you’re bigger in the lens” from “Kinda Guy,” and “Heavy hearts can’t lose their winter weight” from “Drag.” Recently, I discovered that a couple of the most interesting acts I have reviewed over the last couple of years are no longer together. So it’s nice to learn that in the tough world of indie music, Jenn Lindsay has managed to put out eight albums. And the three that I have heard (this one, Uphill Both Ways, and Perfect Handful) are good ones.
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