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City Garden Jess Klein
City Garden exudes the soulful and passionate emotional intimacy that Jess Klein is known for. On her sixth and most unrestrained album City Garden, Jess Klein reveals everything. "I was at a really hard point in my life and the only thing I knew to do to make it easier was to write," said Klein. "I sat down and the song 'All I Ever Had' came out, and it felt like a faucet had been turned on because it was such a release of emotion. The first night that I performed it, several people told me it had moved them to tears. I realized that I wasn't the only one who felt that something had been released." Klein said that she wanted every song on this album to have that same power "to release and to heal." With her soulful, passionate voice up front, and lyrics that alternate between searing and heartbreakingly tender, Klein went for a gritty, primal production style reminiscent of early blues albums. As a result, City Garden exudes the emotional intimacy that has captivated audiences at Klein's much-lauded live shows, an intimacy which, coupled with Klein's powerful voice, caused the Boston Globe to describe her as "Quite simply one of the most gifted performers this area has produced." On the road supporting her last album Strawberry Lover, Klein began seeking out material that would inspire her to write more from this vulnerable, powerful place. Klein explored some classic songwriter albums, touchstones for emotional intimacy, such as Springsteen's Nebraska and Joni Mitchell's Blue. One day, she came across something she wasn't as familiar with: Junior Wells and Buddy Guy's It's My Life, Baby!." She was immediately hooked. "I felt like I'd been saved, hearing the passion and raw emotion these artists were pouring out. I'd always been influenced by artists like the Rolling Stones and Dylan, who were themselves influenced by the Blues; I'd even been influenced by older soul artists, but I'd never really gone back to the roots. It was electrifying, and terrifying. I knew that if I started thinking of my songs as the blues; not structurally, but in the feeling of them, they would be able to handle as much emotion as I had to give." The blues influence is clear on City Garden in the heart-wrenching solo acoustic "All I Ever Had," the deep raw sound of the African drum and floor toms underscoring Klein's rhythmic acoustic and cacophonous yells on her personal and political call to action, "Real Live Love," her slinky bass note riff on "Shell and Shore," and the bittersweet lyric of "Alone": "You can walk alone, or cry alone, or look between the lines/But everyone's gotta be alone sometimes." Klein's impassioned vocals throughout convey the power of unearthing one's true nature. In the title track, Klein ruminates on addressing one's fears and owning the power that lies underneath them: "Been lookin' at my city garden for almost twelve months now/I been thinkin' 'bout a bargain/About tearin' that old fence down." For Klein, writing City Garden tore down creative barriers and helped solidify her voice, but she makes a distinction between what she can and can't take credit for: "People are always commenting on how big my voice is for my body, and asking me how all this power can come out of a little white girl. But it's not me. I just channel this stuff. God knows where it comes from. I feel really blessed to have this gift. I just try to give it back." |
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