Jessica Lea Mayfield -Tell Me

Mon 30th May, 2011 in Music Reviews

Singer songwriter Jessica Lea Mayfield is only 21, but she’s been honing her craft for ten years now and has returned with a second full length album, Tell Me . The record doesn’t strayed far away from her biographical style she introduced to us to with her debut With Blasphemy So Heartfelt in 2008. She has turned to Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys) to produce and record the album in Easy Eye Sound Systems in Akron.That is certainly the main reason the flavour is similar here.

Somewhere In Your Heart starts off with a trance like lyricism that has Dan Auerbach launching into a guitar attack half way through. Blue Skies Again is a gorgeous show case for her vocal style within a more pop fashioned song. Nervous Lonely Night has some stellar arrangements and a spacey feel. Joining Jessica Lea is her brother David who is responsible for some instrumentation and arrangements throughout this 37 minute release.

Jessica Lea appears to have the emotional breadth of a songwriter much beyond her chronological years. Her turn of phrase on the title track and the somewhat mournful Sleepless show that she has excellent skills . Although the music over these first two records may share a common groove, there is little doubt we will be hearing more from this young woman from America’s Midwest.