Jennifer O'Connor

Reviews

The Color And The Light (CD) Red Panda Records
There are some records that just defy categorisation, and Jennifer O'Connor's second full length release is one of those. The liberal use of pedal steel guitar and Jennifer's vocal drawl might point towards alt-country, but these richly uplifting songs bear little relation to the sparse melancholic sounds of Will Oldham. 'Beg Or Borrow Days' is a slice of full on country, and is such a strong opening track that there is a real danger of it overshadowing the rest of the album. To ignore the remaining songs here would be a great shame, as there are a number of beautiful ballads, with multi-layered guitars delicately underpinning Jennifer's restrained vocals. When the fuzzed-up guitars do burst in, particularly on 'Driving Through' and 'Million Dollar Smile', it is without ever losing the sense of melody, resulting in a sound not dissimilar to Tanya Donnelly at her best. Jennifer has recently signed to Matador, and I for one am already looking forward to hearing more from her.