Darren Jessee (of Ben Folds Five) - The Jane Room 217 - New Vinyl Lp 2018 Bar/None Pressing - Indie Rock

Street Date: 8/24/18

Dreamy and intimate, The Jane, Room 217 evokes late night drives, low lights, and longing, as on the album's opener, "Anything You Need," where so much space is left around the notes that by the time strings swell up under the melody after the chorus, it's an almost overwhelming rush, like a quiet revelation. Arrangements on the album are pared down to nothing more than acoustic guitar, a few spare keyboard hooks, piano, Pollard's strings, and Jessee's expressive vocals. At once reserved and lush, Jessee's wistful melodies are shot through with lyrical sparks, as in "All but a Dream," where he takes a series of impressionistic flashes – "chill through the window screen," "cortados in Mexico City," "red tail lights of taxis, running through a summer rain," "swimming in the briny sea" – and builds them into an epiphany much greater than the sum of its parts. Quietly devastating, The Jane, Room 217 is a personal exploration of heartbreak and romance – made all the more powerful by its clear-eyed restraint.

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