Emily Jane White - Ode to Sentience

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 23 / 3 / 2011

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Review

'Ode to Sentience' is the third album from California-based Emily Jane White and the follow-up to the critically acclaimed ‘Victorian America’ from 2009. Even early plays show this collection of ten songs to be her strongest set to date. While still firmly part of the folk/gothic/Americana genre White, with these songs, finally loses all the need for comparisons to a certain other American songstress that her previous reviews always threw up. It feels now that 2008’s ‘Dark Undercoat’ and the following years ‘Victorian America’ were just stepping stones to this, the first Emily Jane White album that is not just a collection of good, solid songs but an exceptional set of tunes which demands to be played from start to finish without the need to skip a track here and there. Essentially a collection of ballads it’s this type of song that suits White the best. White has stated in the past that she is drawn to writing sad songs, that it isn’t her job to create happy music and although the ten songs that make up ‘Ode To Sentience’ can certainly fit into the ‘not happy music’ bracket there is much to appreciate, find comfort in and enjoy in these songs. Opening song, ‘Katherine’, stands by White’s claim about writing sad songs, drenched in cello which lends a melancholy texture to what is really a quite catchy melody it matches the world-weariness in White’s vocals perfectly. White is on perfect form vocally throughout this album and opening ‘Ode To Sentience’ with a song that clearly shows from the first line what a confident, solid vocalist she is will make a few ears listen intently from the off. White has never sounded better. ‘The Cliff’ which follows had me thinking that an early Neil Young song had been placed on the album by mistake until White’s vocals come in. Even then the opening lines are so absorbing that you wouldn’t argue if you were told that it was a Young composition. It’s that good and again shows the progress that White has made over the course of her short musical career. It really is a career high and should be the album that sees White reaching out to a much wider audience than she has touched before. That the songs were reputedly arranged directly in the studio and recorded fairly quickly has not prevented them from sounding like White has been out on the road or spent hours fine-tuning each and every track. For all the sadness conveyed through the songs there is a warm feeling that betrays the sorrow White wanted to express. The strings on ‘I Lay to Rest (California)’ while matching White’s vocals for emotion strangely also manage to lift the song which prevents the track from getting too maudlin. There was something that made both White’s previous two albums fall just short of brilliant status but with ‘Ode To Sentience’ White has really produced an outstanding set of songs. On the very few occasions when the melodies are not quite up there with the best on offer here, those opening two songs after all set the bar high for anything that follows, White’s vocals compensate purely because she doesn’t falter for a second vocally. One listen to say ‘The Law’ will confirm that here is a singer of exceptional talent, one who is totally believable and who you don’t have to turn to a lyric sheet to understand. It’s almost as if Emily Jane White has come of age with ‘Ode To Sentience’; it’s an album that any artist would be proud of and one that many people will find comfort in. The only problem Emily Jane White has now is how to follow a collection of songs as strong as these.

Track Listing:-

1 Oh, Katerine
2 The Cliff
3 Black Silk
4 The Black Oak
5 I Lay To Rest (California)
6 Clipped Wings
7 The Preacher
8 The Law
9 Requiem Waltz
10 Broken Words

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/emilyjanewhit
http://www.emilyjanewhite.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Ja
http://www.bandsintown.com/EmilyJaneWh
https://twitter.com/emilyjanewhite1

Label Links:-

http://www.talitres.com/en/
https://www.facebook.com/talitres.rds
https://twitter.com/talitres
https://instagram.com/talitres/