Jessica Lea Mayfield's Nonesuch debut album, Tell Me, produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, is out today. The album makes the New York Times's Critics' Choice list of new CDs. "It’s refreshing," says the Boston Globe, "to see her blossom on her seductive new sophomore album." The LA Times says: "Her cool connects her to Patsy Cline; her haunted side recalls Gillian Welch." The AP calls it "a dark and moody album, full of delights throughout, and if it doesn't make Mayfield a star, that too will be heartbreaking."
Jessica Lea Mayfield's Nonesuch debut album, Tell Me, produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, is out today and is available in the Nonesuch Store. Mayfield, who launched a tour with Justin Townes Earle over the weekend, is celebrating today's release in her hometown of Kent, Ohio, as the tour with Earle heads to the Kent Stage tonight.
The Boston Globe suggests that the accolades Mayfield received on her 2008 debut album, With Blasphemy So Heartfelt, may have left out that there was room for still more from the young singer-songwriter. "It’s refreshing, then, to see her blossom on her seductive new sophomore album," writes the Globe's James Reed. "Working again with the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who produced her debut, Mayfield opens her music to a broader landscape in everything from her songwriting to the arrangements ... Overall, Mayfield sounds more nuanced and world-weary here." Read the complete review at boston.com.
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The Associated Press says "Tell Me is the portrait of a precocious girl growing into self-assured womanhood and a producer reaching the peak of his powers." The AP's Chris Talbott calls it "a dark and moody album, full of delights throughout, and if it doesn't make Mayfield a star, that too will be heartbreaking."
Reluctant to choose just one track off the album to recommend, because "we like every song on this album," the AP calls particular attention to the first song on the album, saying, "the sultry opener that sets the mood for the remaining 10 tracks."
You'll find that review at yahoo.com.
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Los Angeles Times music critic Ann Powers says: "Mayfield has developed a sound that’s coy and plain-spoken, a fascinating take on the demure female singer, especially as that role has unfolded within Mayfield’s chosen home base of Americana. Her cool connects her to Patsy Cline; her haunted side recalls Gillian Welch. She also has a bit of the shambolic indie rocker in her, sometimes even sounding like a female J. Mascis." Read the album review at latimes.com.
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The album makes the New York Times's Critics' Choice list of new CDs. "A small voice and a steady gaze are the weapons of choice for Jessica Lea Mayfield," says Times music critic Nate Chinen. Her new album "is full of barbed confessions and bittersweet confections, songs that come on softly but leave behind a disquieting feeling ... Slouching into her notes, with the barest tremor of vibrato, she can almost suggest a precocious child peering past the bounds of innocence." Read more at nytimes.com.
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Mayfield has been likened previously to Lucinda Williams (New York Times), Laura Marling (MusicOMH), and Neko Case (Rolling Stone). Paste magazine, which gives Tell Me an 8.3, finds similarities between Mayfield and Cat Power's Chan Marshall, yet where the latter "too often succumbs to shallow, gimmicky antics, Mayfield allows her work—a marvel of nuance and restraint—to speak for itself," insists reviewer M.T. Richards.
"Tell Me is all meaty guitar licks and sad-edged vocals, like Fleetwood Mac for the blog generation," Richard goes on to write of the new album, which "feels genuine and unpretentious throughout, setting the tone for a night of cathartic, misty-eyed introspection."
Read the complete review at pastemagazine.com.
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Seattle radio station KEXP, 90.3 FM, describes Tell Me as a "first-rate set of atmospheric folk-pop." Auerbach, says KEXP reviewer Don Yates, "provides a dark, noir-ish sound thick with reverbed guitars and ambient noise to flesh out Mayfield’s sultry deadpan drawl and disarmingly blunt lyrics about various sordid relationships." Read more at kexp.org.
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Prefix magazine says that, on Tell Me, "Mayfield continues to combine organic, rootsy elements with a more ethereal, atmospheric quality."
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The New Zealand Herald rates Tell Me four out of five, describing it as "a collection of country rock that warms the cockles of your heart." Writes reviewer Paula Yeoman: "There is a sense of vulnerability that surrounds Mayfield and her slow, sexy drawl, but it's complemented by the sure touch of Auerbach on production." Read more at nzherald.co.nz.
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Mayfield's tour with Justin Townes Earle continues through Valentine's Day, after which Mayfield will join the Avett Brothers for a few performances. She launches a headline tour in March. For more information, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
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