Jolie Holland - Wine Dark Sea

I was drawn to Jolie Holland initially by the fact that she had been a founder member of the Be Good Tanyas and that she was receiving a good deal of endorsement from non other than Tom Waits. Consequently I bought and enjoyed her debut solo album, 'Catalpa', a low key collection of songs recorded in someone's living room, tapes of which were passed around among friends, before demand grew for an official release. That release came in 2003 and I admit to having heard nothing of her work since. I know! - Shame on me!

'Wine Dark Sea' is the latest album from Ms Holland and things have clearly moved on since that low-fi debut. The country acoustic sound of her first album (and of subsequent works I understand) has now been replaced by a grungier rawness as demonstrated by the distorted electric guitar and thumping bass drum of album opener, 'On And On'. 

Fans were given notice of the change when press releases gave warning that Holland had recruited a host of free jazz musicians who were allowed to express themselves with her compositions. I even recall the music on this album being described as 'melodically adventurous' and immediately made a mental note to seek the album out as soon as it hit the stores.

Had the release not been given such a momentous build-up, I may have been more impressed but because my expectations were raised to unrealistic levels, on first hearing I was somewhat disappointed. Sure there are moments of free form expression on tracks such as 'Dark Days' and 'I Thought It Was The Moon', but I wasn't convinced that they added much to the quality of the songs. 

When a track did come along that was relatively unadorned by such effects the song shone out. Such is the case with the soulful Joe Tex song 'The Love You Save' and  even more so on the following 'All The Love' a gorgeous ballad that reveals that Holland can do soul like the best of them. This soulful feel is then taken further by the honking saxes of the final track, 'Waiting For The Sun'.

Now after several listens I have to conclude that this is actually a very good album indeed and credit has to go to Jolie Holland for trying something different instead of continuing down the same path as many of her contemporaries in the Americana genre. It's just a shame that my initial thoughts were influenced by the pre-release fanfares.  

I now look forward to hearing her future releases, which I intend to receive and listen to with a more open mind.

The album 'Wine Dark Sea' is now available on Anti-Records.
 Here is a taster, the track 'All The Love'.  Enjoy!