NOT SITTING STILL Jaye Drew. |
In the R&B and soul the very talented vocalist Jaye Drew purveys, you need something real, a grit and substance that allows you to rise above sentimental pap and make people actually give a fuck about you. She finds — and shows — just that on A Moving Train, her debut full-length.
Especially on “Trouble and Time,” a sultry and pained Fiona Apple take that bleeds Hammond organ and gospel-fueled backing vocals. Drew shows off all her voice’s tremendous body and crushes with a verse like, “Your eyes are not blue/I wasn’t born to feel like I do/You’re so pretty I could cry.”
And the falsetto she pulls off in “Stay,” naked with nothing but a guitar accompaniment, is tremendous, full of longing and fear: “Will you wait a minute?/Won’t you stay, stay a minute?” At that point, I’d pretty much hang around all day (and most of the next for good measure).
The disc as a whole, put together over the course of a couple years with producer Mark Zuppe, moves around a little bit, from Jamiroquai laser-beam keyboards to clap-your-hands funk to Norah Jones whispers, but Drew manages to hold things together and the disc gets stronger as it goes along. She succeeds with sexy and seductive (“Slave Driver”) and even pulls off the Latin-flavored “Crime of Passion” with assured aplomb.
As a finishing tune, “Passion” features some great piano work by jazzman Matt Fogg and quick fingers from guitarist Scott Morgan, and makes the disc feel short at just nine songs. The instrumental break that takes us out is pretty tremendous, finally breaking down into just the piano and conga, and it’s indicative of the album as a whole — not just a forum for Drew’s voice but an attempt at something greater, something meaningful and musical.
As yet another addition to Portland’s growing R&B/soul scene, Drew has a real charisma and spark, giving off that feeling that she isn’t playing and singing this kind of music because it’s fun and people can dance to it, but because she has to. It’s a realness that ought to resonate.
A Moving Train
Released by Jaye Drew | with the Soul Movement + Lady Zen | at the Empire, in Portland | August 15 | www.myspace.com/jayedrewmusic
