NEW ALBUM: Jennylee – Right On!
Jenny Lee Lindberg, the bassist of Warpaint, does not break free from her band with her debut solo album. First, Warpaint heavily promotes Jennylee’s album on their social media and made it very clear that, despite the solo efforts of its members, a new album is on the way in 2016. Also, Right On sounds much like what Jenny would come up in a lunch break during Warpaint reheasals, after the designated singers Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman have left the room.
But she is up to something here. By stripping out the soaring, melodic part from the Warpaint sound, her music gains a lot of raw, dark energy. The first track, Blind with its slow, heavy bass reminds of the epic opener Zerstörte Zelle on the 1987 album of the German industrial pioneers Einstürzende Neubauten. Both tracks are like a staircase down to a basement, where the rest of the album takes place. Much of that tight, intense atmosphere comes from Jenny’s voice. Doing lead vocals was a challenge for her and she kept the vocals low-key and chant-like for most of the album. Even when she gets loud it sounds as if she was far away, almost behind the music, which is rather dominated by the constant presence of a relentless Mick Karn style bass line.
This all adds up to an extraordinary album that would have made my top ten of the year, if it had not been released so late in the year. It is a record that draws you into its world with the first song and releases you only with the last track, the accoustic Real Life.
Right On is out now on Rough Trade Records. Listen to it on Apple Music or Spotify. Watch the video for Never below:
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