Audio By Carbonatix
Editor’s Note: Over the next 10 days, I’ll be presenting my favorite local records of the year, counting down from No. 10 to No. 1, one album a day. Keep checking back to see how the list pans out, and, in the meantime, click after the jump to see albums No. 20-11 in the Top 20 list that will update as the it grows…
No. 6: Sarah Jaffe — Even Born Again EP
A powerhouse of a talent, Sarah Jaffe‘s music is compelling because it so craftily stradles the line between the delicate and the confident. And here, on her first official release (even if it is just a six-track EP), Jaffe uses those intricate songwriting talents to announce her arrival in a big way.
It’s the album of a 22-year-old who doesn’t know she’s 22; it’s as if she’s bottled up her emotions, sent them 10 years into the future, and asked her future self to write the score for her life. Only, well, that 22-year-old clearly has things under control on her own.
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Although heavily reliant on Jaffe’s vocals and acoustic guitar playing, Even Born Again is more than just another folk record: The title track is a sweeping, almost bombastic affair, and the surprisingly raucous “Under” utilizes a fuzzed out electric guitar and a plodding drum beat to great, almost Black Rebel Motorcycle Club-like effect.
It’s a phenomenal debut. So much so that it’s almost scary to acknowledge that this is, in fact, only the very, very beginning. —Pete Freedman
