Drawing from the most evocative elements of folk, country, blues and swing jazz, Texan songstress Jolie Holland–previously of the Be Good Tanyas– conjures up her own mysterious world of fantasy and nostalgia in which the old and new are allowed to converge. Sascha, the first track off of Holland’s 2004 album Escondida–spanish for ‘hidden’–is a quaint portrait of old-school romanticism, where shuffling drums and minimalist vocals ease listeners into a free-spirited but elegant reverie. Mad Tom of Bedlam is untamed and visceral, tinged with bluesy vocals, scattered rhythms, and after that, little else, leaving the track to retain a raw and moody sound and aura whose poetic lyricism drives its resonance. Holland’s diverse fanbase even offers her countless collaborative opportunities, including a duet with indie-rap emcee Sage Francis, in the decadent blues-rap piece Got Up This Morning. With her elegant, homegrown musical sensibilities and eccentricities, Jolie Holland manages to both revere and lament a certain southern romanticism long lost to the society in which she lives.
Got up this Morning by Sage Francis (Ft. Jolie Holland)
