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Patria Jacobs:
Poison of the Sea
Listening to this album is a struggle between liking it and appreciating it but not really enjoying it. About 50% of the album is interesting in a good way, 25% good vocals and instrumentation, and then the remaining 25% is nearly unlistenable. That 25% is by no means enough to completely ruin an album and since it is mainly confined within a song or two, especially Jacques Cousteau, rather than evenly dispersed through the whole album, it can be easily remedied by the lovely skip button. However, whether this album works for you or not really depends on how much you like music with interesting qualities. Her deep, luscious vocals rarely stray from the slow, drawn-out style, leaving little room for the southern twangy charm she tries to say lives in each of these songs; that is, except for Stayed Away Too Long, which even has the music itself picking up a bit of the twang. But for the most part, its really hard to pin down a location-based sound from the majority of her singing style. This style stays pretty constant from beginning to end and gives the album sort of a monotonous quality. Poison of the Sea begins with the programmed percussion and organ of Hurricane. Everything sounds a bit muffled and tinny, even Patrias deep vocals. Towards the end, a sitar is introduced. Though it seems a little out of place to have a sitar accompany an organ, the result isnt bad and rather falls into that interesting category. The second track, You Stayed Away Too Long, is probably the highlight and very fitting for Jacobs deep, Southern vocals. It sounds like a Patsy Cline song that locked in an old jukebox for years, recently uncovered. The piano quietly plunks away in the background with the harmonica, giving it that great old-timey feel. If I could use one word to describe the whole album, it would probably be eerie. Not bad, not great but rather interestingly eerie. Its like listening to Julee Cruise and being entranced by the spookiness in her voice and the words she speaks. Although Patrias vocals are not high-pitched but rather low and sensual, she still holds onto that same eerie quality through both her lyrics and the vocals. Im not quite sure how to categorize the album or the music within, but it will definitely appeal to someone looking for an interesting Southern female vocalist with a soft and mysterious approach to her music.
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