CD Review: Julia Brown

By Russ Starke on Sep 24, 2008 in Music

Our love affair with New York artist Julia Brown began back in 2001 after hearing her debut release Jubilant Newborn Alien Haze and subsequently being sure to catch all of her Philadelphia appearances when she swept through town. After the flurry of critical praise, international touring, and appearances following that release, we waited anxiously for the next one…but conversations with the ever-approachable and accessible Julia have revealed that although she was sporadically writing and recording, she was mainly in a period of collection, observation, and personal exploration…waiting for the muse to return and make sense of everything, musical and otherwise.

Luckily for us, the muse returned this past year, and as a result we now have “Strange Scars” to inhabit. I mean that quite literally…my first impression of this album was that each song is like its own film noir – filled with characters whose skin you climb into and experience their unique worlds of light and shadow. They all clock in between four and five minutes, and each one leaves you feeling like you’ve taken a long emotional journey when it is through – it’s actually a pretty strange sensation.

My second impression was, “how the heck does someone write songs like this?” These aren’t your typical sing-alongs that you’d sit in music class and determine what the structure is (A/B/A/B/C/A/B). They’re like musical portraits…musical novellas…which in no way should convey that they’re haphazard or all over the place, because their flow is so logical and organic…are you wondering what the heck I’m talking about? That’s good – pick this album up and give it a spin, and you’ll be equally speechless. Or, like me, tripping over yourself trying to find words that do it justice.

In the wrong hands, these little masterpieces could have been turned into mini rock operas with tons of layering and sweeping string sections and all of that, because heck, I think that’s what I’d be tempted to do with them to try to realize their inherent power and weight. But the power ultimately comes from precisely the opposite approach – there is so much restraint in the production, letting Julia’s vocals and ever-sharpening guitar work shine…tracks like “Hole” and “London Days” in particular are just devastating in their beauty.

Elsewhere, pay attention to the killer band that Julia assembled (who also play with amazing precision and restraint), who shine on tracks like the opener “Sunday Streak” and “Ayn Rand”. Plus, wouldn’t you know it, Julia has Chris Brown twiddling some knobs and playing organ on this recording (who is closely associated with the Rheostatics, ahem) – if that ain’t a recipe for kicking some arse, I don’t know what is.

I tell you what, I heard some of Julia’s demos over the past few years, and they were all absolutely amazing, and not ONE of them is on this recording. So, here’s hoping she continues to mine that treasure she’s been gathering and gives us more of it in the near future. Look for dates in your area soon and stay up to date at www.juliabrown.com – and perhaps she’ll also be able to accept our invitation to join us on the podcast when she rolls through Philly. Stay tuned, and go out and get yourself some Strange Scars!

- Russ Starke