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Jessica Lea Mayfield (pictured) from Kent, Ohio, who performs tonight at the Abbey Pub, released With Blasphemy, So Heartfelt (Polymer) last month; she’s only 19. The record was produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys (on whose latest, Attack & Release, Mayfield appears as a guest vocalist), and his approach is minimal–in fact, almost everything about the album is minimal. Mayfield sings with a fragile beauty, but her range is narrow, both in terms of pitch and approach. She’s been compared to Hope Sandoval, and the narcotic quality of the music does remind me a bit of Mazzy Star, but after a while the sameness of the songs–the uniformly slow tempos and lethargic guitar strumming, Mayfield’s apparent inability to break from a wobbly, hypnotic chant–makes clear that she still needs to figure out what to do with her talent. I have to wonder how she’ll go over in a midsize room like the Abbey–if she plays with the same numbing constancy onstage that she does on disc, I’m guessing half the audience will be asleep or gone within 20 minutes.
Today’s playlist:
