Jen Gloeckner hails from Dubuque, Iowa and ‘Miles Away’ is her debut CD release.
That Jen is not signed to a major label is nothing short of criminal. She is brimming with talent both as a song-writer and as a singer/musician. All 15 tracks on ‘Miles Away’ calmly display a mature and self-assured approach as Jen explores folk, jazz, pop, ambient, electronica and more. Despite the variety of styles on offer, there is nothing contrived or awkward in the arrangements due largely to Jen’s versatile vocals that blend skilfully within whatever styles she effortlessly draws into her songs.
The album is primarily acoustic based but for every track built around voice and guitar there is a track that uses either full band or allows another instrument to take centre stage. Thematically ‘Miles Away’ is a warm, late-night slow-burner stoked with a woody and natural glow that is utterly beguiling. Nothing is hurried and a significant part of the album’s charm is the feeling that Jen is doing everything she wants at her own pace without ever straying into over-indulgence or art for art’s sake. There is a song-writer’s discipline underpinning the subtle experimentation within.
It’s difficult to pick highlights from such a promising collection. Title track and opener ‘Miles Away’ is a folk number built around a simple semi-acoustic guitar laced with pretty piano flourishes and Jen’s plaintive voice, calling across the music “like the wind”. ‘Remember When’ is an intimate folk-poem with just Jen and acoustic guitar and the lovely chorus of “I cherish everything, everything, even me”. Just when you feel you know where she is heading with her music, the arrangements begin to change and before you know it tracks such as ‘Nothing Personal’ and ‘Only 1’ ditch the folk/roots and the guitar for dreamy and woozy electronic music, the latter effectively utilising a multi-layering effect of Jen’s voice. ‘Glimpse’ is a jazz-blues piece with strong piano chords and sonorous saxophone, reminding me of ‘The Kick Inside’ era Kate Bush. ‘Clear The Sand’ stirs the pot with ethnic rhythms and piercing flute from way beyond Iowa. The highpoint of the musical journey must be ‘Mountains’, a mainly instrumental track that seems to fuse all of Jen’s previous genre-hopping.
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Aside from Kate Bush, there are touches of Stevie Nicks, Kristen Hersh and Tracy Chapman, but it would be doing Jen a serious disservice to overstate these influences, such is the strength of her musical individuality and the uniqueness of her own singing. Her skill in using her voice to capture the atmosphere and sentiment of each song is staggering. Compare the independent and forceful nature of her voice on ‘Remember When’ and ‘Glue’ with its bewitching quality on ‘Nothing Personal’, its hushed and humming caress on ‘Spinning Heads’ or its laid-back warmth on ‘Otherside’.
Atmospheric, at times surreal, never obvious but also never impenetrable, sometimes strange, occasionally dark but always offering comfort and forever rewarding repeated play, this debut album is the sound of a major talent who must be discovered and who should be reaching the ears of many far beyond Dubuque, Iowa.
Nothing short of excellent.
www.jengloeckner.com
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