Beauty and Sadness: Eliza Jaye's Stunning Middle Child
Album review by Eric Sandberg
Eliza Jaye's powerful, expressive voice cannot be ignored. Her tremendous ear and sense of melody cannot be ignored. Her mastery of multiple stringed instruments and lyrical beauty cannot be ignored. He voice rivals, and even surpasses Adele's in range and versatility and if she had been plucked from obscurity by some Svengali producer and ground through the major label A&R machine she would doubtless be a superstar.
But then, we wouldn't have an album like Middle Child, a record I would snatch up [along with my dog and cat] if my house were on fire. Jaye spent years driving up, down and all around the UK in her tour van/recording studio, thrilling audiences with live performances while writing and recording songs on the fly.
Her first album The Seed was released in 2013 and is now impossible to find. The album wears its Chrissie Hynde influences on its sleeve but also contains hints of what was to come on Middle Child with the song "Marmalade" [see video below]
Middle Child starts off with two tracks that serve as a nod to her punky power pop past and show off the power of her voice. After this solid albeit perfunctory start, the album, without signalling, makes a sharp left turn into ethereal genius boulevard. By the time you've heard "Tenderness," "Deja Vu," "My Sunrise" and "Tigers" you'll be going "Wait...whut!?"
Jaye was a child prodigy, learning classical violin without sheet music, mastering everything swiftly by ear. On Middle Child she is her own session musician, playing guitar, violin and harp [and I don't mean harmonica]. "Tenderness" [see the brief video below showing Jaye recording the harp part] is mesmerizing while "Deja Vu" would give David Lynch a full on chubby.
"My Sunrise" brings a more sophisticated guitar sound and recalls the late Jeff Buckley with it's sweeping arrangement and powerful vocals. Whoever is in charge of the 007 franchise needs to create a villain called Le Tigre and make a movie so "Tigers" can be the theme song.
There is not a bad song on this album. they're all great and encompass many different styles but the album retains a cohesiveness of vision that makes it a spellbinding listen. My greatest fear is that very few will get to hear it.
Tragically, Eliza Jaye is no longer with us. She succumbed to cancer this past February isn't here to see the release of this wonderful musical statement. My only hope is that, like the aforementioned Jeff Buckley, she will become a posthumous legend. Buy this album. "Take The Time" to listen to it.
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