Friday 7 July 2017

New Music: Jade Bird - Something American


Back in the Summer of 2016 I introduced an impressive new artist on the blog called Jade Bird and wrote that she was recording her debut EP in London. Now nearly one year on that EP has arrived. It turns out that the majority of it was recorded in Woodstock – but irrespective of location it was very much worth the wait.

The EP takes the classic sounds of country, folk, Americana and the delta-blues and frames them in the world of teenager in 2017 who has spent time in South Wales, Germany and Chesterfield. It’s a case of one foot in the past but one foot very much in the future as well. At points on the EP her music sounds hauntingly intimate whereas at other points, such as the bluesy holler of Ginnin’ In Your Face she sounds raspy bold and whisky swigging loud. The range of songs is strong but it all glues cohesively together.

Where Jade Bird’s natural audience sits is still to pan out. Certainly in the UK it’s easy to suggest an older Radio 2 crowd, but her youth and some her other songs that I’ve seen her play live could perhaps cross over to a younger crowd – so maybe Radio 1 is in her grasp as well. Irrespective of age though, one thing is clear, Jade Bird has bags of talent and her EP fully displays that.

Jade plays a number of festivals this summer (including Latitude next weekend) and has her own headline show at London's Omeara in October (tickets here) after recently selling out a gig at Servant Jazz Quaters also in London.

Hear the song Something American below and the whole EP on Spotify by clicking here.

Jade Bird - Something American

No comments: