Review: Jessica Lea Mayfield - Make My Head Sing...
[ATO; 2014]
Rating: 8/10
By Cortney Willis, Staff Writer
Key Tracks: “I Wanna Love You,” “Pure Stuff,” “Do I Have The Time”
Under of the influence of and working with The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach since the age of 15, Jessica Lea Mayfield has transformed as an artist over the past nine years. Mayfield got into music by playing from Ohio to Tennessee as a member of her family’s bluegrass band, One Way Rider, at the age of eight. She soon matured into an independent artist relying solely on her vocals and acoustic guitar.
With her third full-length studio album Make My Head Sing..., Mayfield does a complete 180 from the acoustic indie artist her fans expect her to be. Bearing an album cover that looks like a kindergartener’s craft project, Make My Head Sing... is a 10-track extravaganza of post-grunge chic, lo-fi and experimental music.
To those familiar with Mayfield, the transformation she portrays on Make My Head Sing... shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. She has frequently cited the Stone Temple Pilots and Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters as musical influences. With her latest album, Mayfield chooses to show rather than tell her listeners about these influences.
Opening track “Oblivious” finds Mayfield pissed off, backed by screeching guitars and sloppy drums. A complete turnabout from her indie-folk past, Mayfield’s voice is oddly gentle as she croons, “I could kill them with the power in my mind / But I’m a good humanitarian / I could open up the sky to a world unknown / But I’d rather be oblivious.” The song sounds completely underground and fades out nicely with a pleasant high-hat tapping rhythm.
The amazing lead-single “I Wanna Love You” features guitar effects and melodies that sound spookily like a Nirvana song. Cheery “Standing in the Sun” channels Sixpence None the Richer. As the happiest song on the album, it’s hard for one to listen to it and not smile.
The amusing guitar part on album highlight “Pure Stuff” nicely compliments Mayfield’s echoing vocals that are definitively “indie” on the track, creating a wonderful juxtaposition with the grungy, sloppy instrumental background.
“Do I Have The Time” treads away from the post-grunge territory and into a happy, danceable ‘80s-esque pop song reminiscent of the early days of Madonna.
The album isn't perfect. Messy, gloomy tracks “Party Drugs” and “Unknown Big Secret” are drawn out and don’t mesh well with the rest of the songs. Mayfield’s wispy voice isn’t especially strong, but it’s still breathtaking. There’s an undeniable, special “X factor” to her instrument.
Mayfield’s transformation on Make My Head Sing... proves that not all change is bad.
