Review Summary: Acquire this EP. Listen to Jenny sing. Feel good.
Jenny O.’s debut EP
Home is a delightfully quaint indie/folk record bursting at the seams with potential. She may be one of the newer aspiring artists on the indie block, but she asserts herself with willful audacity.
Home overflows with songs that are both incredibly catchy and charmingly personal; delivering crystal clear guitar plucking, vibrant pianos, and jaw-dropping vocal harmonies that give the whole thing an astounding acoustic atmosphere. You can’t go wrong with the lead track ‘Well Ok Honey’, a song that thrives on Jenny O.’s luscious voice. The vocal arrangements have a retro-southern vibe to them, and with an audibly upbeat bass line playing in the background, the song exudes all things cheerful and pleasant. The other four tracks pale in comparison to the forthright, accessible nature of ‘Well Ok Honey’ – however, they still bring a lot to the table. ‘All My Wishes’ shows a great deal of restraint, succeeding on the basis of acoustic picking and soulful, ballad-friendly vocals. Similarly, ‘I Do I Do’ is held together by ice-tinged piano notes and the gradual incorporation of some light percussion, mostly tambourines. The majority of
Home dabbles in this type of artistic indie-pop, utilizing a minimalist approach to compose one calm, endearing tune after another. In fact, the main problem with
Home is not a lack of quality, but a lack of variety. The four slow, acoustic songs are placed back-to-back following the lively, infectious opener. They all offer something unique in their own right, but together they have a tendency to coalesce into one rather indistinguishable experience. There are also no hooks as enormous as the one present on ‘Well Ok Honey’, thus sentencing the rest of the album to a game of catch up. Nevertheless, every song on here is a worthwhile listen - even if one in particular stands out as the strongest of the bunch. As a whole, though, Jenny O.’s debut is one that is full of promise. She shows the ability to apply her talent to whatever style of music she attempts; something that will become invaluable down the road as she begins to create full-lengths. Much like the title suggests, all aspects of her music work together to make the listener feel happy, at-ease, and
at home. This is certainly an EP worth picking up, if only for the sheer fact that ‘Well Ok Honey’ will end 2011 on your “top songs of the year” list. Don’t miss out.
