Jessica Lea Mayfield’s latest album, Tell Me, is a series of mellow, heartfelt musings. Slowly rising with opener I’ll Be The One That You Want Someday and Our Hearts Are Wrong, the sultry mood burns with soft guitar tones and siren-soothing lyrics. From here on, it’s a bit of an uneven mix, with plenty of calm distortion, lilting, naive vocals and great production thanks to The Black Key’s Dan Auerbach.
There is a lovely, persistent country twang to every song; Mayfield sounding like a bouncy, mid-western Lily Allen in some instances, while others have a more earthy Loretta Lynn-like inflection. Most notably is Somewhere In Your Heart, which is what Courtney Love probably thinks she sounds like.
Other than the beautiful vocals is the delicate guitar, a loose balance of echo and decay fuzz that runs throughout the album. Many are supported by fragile, single line riffs and subtle chords, with a very John Frusciante tone. On stand-out tracks, Run Myself Into The Ground and Sleepless, both haunting, simple and whimsical, the guitar has a crackling, almost brittle aura, kind of like the pop and hiss of old vinyl. It’s just a shame that these are hidden at the end of the album, where the pretty sadness of the album is almost lost by this late stage.
The only real drawbacks to this album are the twee, more pop numbers: Grown Man, Nervous Lonely Night and Tell Me. The first sounds like it’s lifting a Motion City Soundtrack keyboard riff, and the latter sounds like an indie-folk Ashlee Simpson, all syncopated drums and tweaked vocals. These few spoil the overall maudlin pall and sultry, calm motion of the album.
Ultimately, Tell Me is not bad, yet it’s not great. For all the beautifully dark, personal songsthere are too many unwarranted cheerier numbers to spoil the mood cast in the onset. Here’s hoping Mayfield grows from the up/down pace to shape one overall sound – not monotonous, just more consistent. I like this album like I like my scotch. Slow burning, soothing, a feeling which warms from within on cold, dark nights, when best enjoyed. Those moments are, like the pixie-like Mayfield, well matured at 21, gives me a comforting warmth in my heart, a song in my head and a tingle where I want it most.
Best Track: Run Myself Into The Ground
If You Like These, You’ll Like These: Junky Star RYAN BINGHAM & THE DEAD HORSES, So Much For The City THE THRILLS, Van Lear Rose LORETTA LYNN
In A Word: Pretty
ADRIAN KAYE
