Jaymay - Autumn Fallin'
Jaymay’s press release is a biography by a professional writer (or at least someone who was ‘hired’). It talks about her love of books, foray into working in publishing and, in a ‘what would happen if?’ moment, a spot at an open mic night with half a song where she decided to become the next Joanna Newsom.
There are two reasons why the bio doesn’t say the last bit. Firstly it was in 2003 when Joanna Newsom was less famous than her distant cousin Gavin, the mayor of San Francisco. Secondly, Jaymay’s instruments don’t sound like they were made by fisher price and she doesn’t sing like Lisa Simpson. She’s like a fast moving, to the point version of Newsom. She isn’t sunny, Californian liberalism, the kind that makes people learn to play the harp; she’s wrapped up warm Manhattanite and a kid’s drawing of her island’s skyline is the cover of this, her first album.
The comparison to Joanna Newsom is mine. The press release mentions her obsession with Bob Dylan who hitchhiked to Greenwich Village from the ether, imitating Woody Guthrie. Jaymay doesn’t sound a thing like traditional folk. People have assigned to Jaymay and Newsom adapted terms like new folk or new age folk which diminish their music’s power.
Listening to this New Yorker is like sitting in a small folk club, watching her and her small band of backing musicians and being blown out of the room. Her songs are intimate and delicate. On ‘Sea Green, See Blue’, she sings about leaving someone on a shuttle out of Grand Central station and you are there with her. But New York is her setting not obsession. Just like the greats, she sings about her people and place in a way that makes it universal.
Musicians, mainly American ones, are rediscovering acoustic instruments and leading what will prove the biggest music revolution of this decade. Joanna Newsom came first but Jaymay isn’t following her. She may have a press release carefully worded to make her seem like a girl next door and worth listening to her for five minutes but she is fantastic and fantastic in her own right.