Having spent time with the bands Balligomingo and Sleepthief, Canadian singer-songwriter Jody Quine is stepping out on her own to start to create a voice all her own. While both of the bands she has spent time with have a certain style to their music, Quine is taking some of their sounds and incorporating other styles to create a style that is both electric and acoustic at the same time. The inclusion of these and other styles of music help to give Quine’s music certain uniqueness to it. Quine has taken her combination of acoustic and electric and created a new CD. The CD is called Seven.
Seven from Jody Quine begins with the song “You Are”. The first track from the CD has a simple acoustic feel. The guitar-based song includes both folk and “pop” influences to it that help create a very easy feel to the music. The inclusion of bongos instead of a drumset helps to enforce the folk feel to the song. The light musical approach creates a sound that would easily fit on any Adult Contemporary radio format where Quine would fit alongside musicians like Jewel, Melissa Etheridge, and even fellow Canadian Alanis Morissette.
With the next track of “Tonight,” the style of the music takes a much more produced sound as Rhys Fulber takes the feel of the track and takes it back in time to the eighties to give the track a sound that may remind you of something that may have been created by either Dépêche Mode, The Motels or even Duran Duran. While it does have a certain sound reminiscent of the New Wave bands from the eighties with its electro-pop sound, “Tonight” is still one of the most commercial-sounding tracks on Seven and could easily find an audience on today’s radio airwaves.
“To Be Frank” is one of the most interesting songs on Seven from Jody Quine. The song begins with a very light keyboard sound that plays behind Quine as she sings about her deepest desires. Quine’s vocals on the track are both beautiful and powerful, depending on the part of the song. The beginning of the song reminds you of something from female “pop” songs from the late seventies/early eighties from the likes of The Carpenters or the more laidback songs from Donna Summers. The song slowly builds as it becomes a track that sounds more like Dépêche Mode than The Carpenters. The song ultimately brings to mind Quine’s time with Balligomingo and Sleepthief because of the inclusion of an electro-pop feel to the song that gives the song a nice contrast between the later part of the song and the more laidback feel of the beginning of the track.
While “To Be Frank” has a complex feel to it, the track “I Love You” brings some of the simplicity in Quine’s style back to the release as the song features a much more folk-like sound to it. The acoustic guitar plays a large part in the music and the percussion also takes on a much lighter feel to it. Like the release’s first track of “You Are,” “I Love You” has a relaxed and easy approach to it.
The new release from Jody Quine comes to an end with the track “Come Back Home”. While the song has a definite beauty to it, the lyrics to the track feature a very heartbreaking feel to them as the singer pleads to her lover to return. The song features an acoustic approach as it is piano-based and it is that piano that makes up the majority of the music to the track. The slow pace and emotional feel to the lyrics brings the release to a close on a slightly low-key note.
Seven from Canadian singer-songwriter Jody Quine is a very enjoyable release as the music of the seven-song EP has a lot of variety in it. The changing of the pace in the music on the EP will definitely keep you intrigued. The release also allows Jody Quine to show off her talents as a singer as those seven tracks have Quine stretching from an emotional approach to the lyrics to a more powerful approach. Seven from Jody Quine is a release that definitely fits into any commercial music-lover’s library.
Review by Matheson Kamin
Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
Check out Jody Quine’s Bandpage account to hear some of her music.
Click HERE for the video to “Come Back Home” from Jody Quine.
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