Near the end of Stephen Malkmus’ first album as a ‘solo’ artist is ‘Jenny & the Ess-Dog’ – a tale of two people who couldn’t be further apart on the social spectrum in terms of age (Jenny is just 18, the Ess-Dog (Sean) is 31) and upbringing but ultimately like each other enough to have a sweet relationship.
They listen to Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms album together and buy a pet – a dog – as some couples tend to do. Unfortunately, Jenny goes to college and the relationship eventually fizzles out leaving the two individuals to embark on their separate journeys.
The song is very easy-going and upbeat in its delivery, driven by a climbing/falling vocal melody backed by warm, sunny guitars and child-like keyboard patterns that guide each verse along. ‘Jenny’ is another track on the album that I always felt mirrored the freedom that Malkmus felt upon the split of Pavement in 1999. There was no track like this on Terror Twilight, and I guess he felt that he could with ease with the burden of his old band off his shoulders. This could have been a radio hit if he wanted it to be.
Its music video above has nothing to do with its lyrics as is the usual for a lot of Malkmus-related music videos though that shouldn’t take anything away from the song’s quality. Charming in its own strange way.
It seems that ‘Jenni’ is not available on YouTube to listen to, neither as its studio recording nor a live performance. I’m sure not everyone who reads this uses Spotify; I do, so that’s how I’ve linked it above. Sorry to those who don’t use it.*
Big Thief are probably my favourite band at the moment. It’s quite lucky that I only started listening to them at the beginning of this year and since then the group has released two great albums, both of which I can’t shake off, and have continued The first of them, U.F.O.F., was released in May. Two Hands followed over a month ago. I’ve witnessed comparisons between the two, as there were guaranteed to be some, and have seen that many people – by ‘many’ I mean a few comments on the Indieheads subreddit – seem to prefer Two Hands. I’m still listening to the songs from U.F.O.F. quite frequently though. While Two Hands is raw and quite naked in its production, the fullness and warm tones of its predecessor always get me going. I have a thing for chilled out, laid-back albums.
I was in a state between slumber and wakefulness when listening to U.F.O.F. for the first time on its release date and distinctly remember hearing ‘Jenni’, thinking how sort of heavy it was in comparison to the other eleven tracks on there. A millisecond fake-out clip begins the track, but when that first hit of the bass drum comes in with the guitars for the actual starting point it was like no moment of any other. On ‘Jenni’, it really sounds like the band were just in a large room and feeding off each other to produce this slow burning energy.
Unlike the majority of other songs on the album ‘Jenni’ has moments where the band just freak out, allowing moments of guitar feedback to ring out and rampant string bends to dominate the sound. Snippets of backwards cymbals glitch in and out of the mix as a swirling wall of sound reveals itself during the choruses. There are these brief occasions of dissonance during the verses that can add a speck of creepiness to the overall tone, but it resolves itself in the beautiful release of each chorus where songwriter Adrianne Lenker sings the track’s main refrain.
Who ‘Jenni’ is is a mystery, the answer to which only Lenker probably knows. The lyrics don’t leave much to try and pick out. Despite their simplicity, they’re still evoke vivid imagery of what is being described in each verse. The narrator – probably nervous, having a panic attack, unable to sleep, could be anything – sees Jenni – a friend, relative, spirit(?) – who then relieves the narrator from its anxious state by taking it through a mystical portal to an unknown destination. It’s like a strange, and very short, children’s story where what is occurring in the song is much darker than how it’s read.
This song is at the top of my ‘On Repeat’ playlist of ‘songs I can’t get enough of’ on Spotify right now. Everytime I hear it it’s like I’m sinking into my chair or whatever I’m comfortably positioned in at the time. A definite highlight, for me, from an album that I can’t stop listening to.
*At the time of writing this the song was not available on YouTube. That changed not too shortly after.
The Band’s self-titled album from 1969 is definitely my favourite album of the group’s. I’ve only really listened to that and Music from Big Pink out of their discography, but I still prefer what is usually referred to as the ‘brown album’ by a long stretch. Even so, my original point still stands.
‘Jawbone’ is the 10th song on The Band, written by both guitarist Robbie Robertson and pianist/vocalist Richard Manuel. The latter is the lead vocalist here, with drummer Levon Helm on the backing. The track tells a story of a man who goes from town to town stealing anything he can and taking great pride in doing so.
Originally I didn’t care too much for the song when I first heard it about…. 6 years ago? I was 18. Though I did think the starting “Oh Jawbone…” lyric was funny just because of the way it was sung. I gave the album another full listen two years following and found, after actually paying attention to it, that past the introduction was a song led by a galloping groove and a great melody. Manuel sings his heart out, you can hear him moving away from the microphone when he’s going for those high notes in the chorus. And even without the vocals I find myself just humming to Rick Danko’s bassline as it climbs and descends through the verses.
It’s mostly in 6/4 time which provides the skipping feel to the track, and there are various points where the tempo changes from a shuffle to a waltz and then to a full on 4/4 smash. It’s one of the album’s most interesting cuts and quite stylish for its time.
I’ll always remember 2013/14 as the time when Disclosure was playing almost everywhere I went. They were on the FIFA 14 soundtrack. They headlined Parklife Festival in 2014. On the very first day of university my flatmate was blasting Settle out of his room. He was a huge fan. Not sure if he is as much anymore. Their songs were played at almost every pre-drinks gathering. ‘Latch’ and ‘F for You’ would usually play during the actual nights out too. Disclosure didn’t make the type of music I was into at the time, but I had heard the album so many times throughout the first few months, probably even weeks, of first year that I thought I may as well download it myself.
I found that I had already grown tired of the album’s first half very quickly. ‘Latch’, ‘F for You’, and ‘White Noise’ were not too fun anymore. That then led to the realisation that the second half of Settle was much better and the three songs that close it out were its peak. ‘January’, ‘Confess to Me’, and ‘Help Me Lose My Mind’ have always been my favourite songs on there, but that’s probably because I didn’t so much of them compared to the overplayed singles. Though out of those three, ‘January’ is the one I’ve always vibed to the most.
I don’t have much to say about it. It’s a catchy house-pop (don’t think that’s a thing) track just like all of the other songs on the album. That pulsating chord progression that occurs throughout was initially what got me hooked, and I’ve always paid more attention to the production rather than the vocals. That’s not to say that Jamie Woon bores me because he doesn’t; he certainly does his thing on the microphone. Up until Settle‘s release I had only heard Woon’s song ‘Lady Luck’ which was released in 2011, so I had at least heard of his name before. I’ll put that song below actually.
‘Jaguar’ is a song by The Who that was recorded during the sessions that resulted in The Who Sell Out, their third album overall, released in 1967. It didn’t make it onto the original LP in that year, despite bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon’s pleas for it to be, but made its way onto the extended and remixed version of the album when it was reissued in 1995.
It’s another rare occasion in the band’s discography where Keith Moon takes the lead vocal on the track. Pete Townshend sings the “radio blasting…” bridge. This site takes information from the album’s liner notes so I’m inclined to agree with it. But even if you still don’t believe it’s Moon singing, I’ll try and tell you why it is. It’s clearly not usual lead vocalist Roger Daltrey. John Entwistle does sing on the album. He did possess a very high falsetto during these times. He doesn’t have the almost childish tone to his voice that is clearly noticeable on this track. That leaves Pete Townshend and Keith. Now listen to, let’s say, ‘I Need You’ – which Keith wrote and sang on previous album A Quick One and compare that to ‘Odorono’ for example which Pete sings. The difference is clear. It’s Keith, people.*
Anyway, this track is great. It’s the first one Pete Townshend wrote with the ‘product/radio advertisement’ concept for the album in mind, so its lyrics are really trying to tell you what great quality you can get from a Jaguar brand car. They even use the company’s “Grace, Space, Pace” slogan in the thing. Moon is reaching for the high notes in the verses but he stays relatively on key which is fantastic to hear. Fun to sing along to also. The song goes through various key changes many, many times as well, so if you’re into that sort of stuff you’re gonna have a good time listening.
It is said that the track ‘Sunrise‘ replaced ‘Jaguar’ on the album just as they were sorting out the final tracklist in ’67. That’s more or less a Townshend solo effort. That’s a beautiful song in itself. Maybe ‘Jaguar’ would have suited the album better? But whatever, what’s done is done.
*16/05/2020 Yeah, I did a bit of research and experimenting. I think it’s John who sings the track with Pete in the bridge. I wrote about it on the Who subreddit.
The Music in My Ears 