Album Review

Avant-garde recording artist Liz Janes delivers a more palatable follow-up to 2001’s Done Gone Fire. While I enjoyed her debut, her song writing and arrangements were bizarre and a bit of an acquired taste. Liz quickly brings you up to speed on the opening “Wonderkiller”. I think this song sums up what the Liz Janes aesthetic is all about.

Liz is a gospel singer with the mad insanity of horror film actress. “Wonderkiller” illustrates her obsessive compulsion to be everything at once. The result is incredibly rewarding. The urgency of “Streetlight” makes Liz even more convincing. Then comes the title track, and this is where the record begins to get weighed down. The country singing Liz emerges. That’s fine and all, but we see a re-occurring pattern for the remainder of the album. Her voice is simply stunning, no questioning that. Liz is the ultimate lounge singer diva, and the instrumentation throughout is rough and haphazard like her acclaimed debut, giving the record undeniable authenticity. I just think the alt-country overtones are over the top. Maybe turn the overtones into overtones, and then we’d be talking about a timeless indie classic. This one isn’t quite there.

~ Garrett Johnson