An edgy marriage of pop music, groove-heavy arrangement, intelligent lyric and powerful vocals. If you like Jonatha Brooke, you'll LOVE this...

4 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Modern Rock, POP: 90's Pop



Details:
This Limited Edition EP features four tracks from Julia's album, Jubilant Newborn Alien Haze.

From: Amplifier
jubilant newborn alien haze

Despite the title, this is NOT a Guided by Voices album. Virginia-to-Manhattan transplant Brown is infernally difficult to describe without resorting to lists of otherwise completely unrelated artists who she occasionally vaguely resembles. So I'll just make a couple of observations. In this album's press kit, Brown says that Duran Duran's Seven and the Ragged Tiger inspired her to become a songwriter, and to be honest, her lyrics have the same stream of consciousness impenetrability that was Simon Le Bon's stock in trade.

Happily, she's also a terrific singer, with the scratchy emotional intensity of Lisa Germano and the controlled warmth of Beth Orton, and as opaque as the lyrics are, you can still tell that they seem to mean something to her. Brown has created a remarkably varied album that touches on numerous styles, often within the same song.

Oh, all right, I'll just make the list: I hear Tapestry-style singer-songwriter rock, Kate Bush-like art pop, Beck-esque sampledelic whimsy, Elvis Costello's slippery vocal melodies and elastic sense of song structure, Jill Scott's try-anything once spirit and the emotional intensity of Aimee Mann minus the soul-baring lyrics. Singer-songwriters as eclectically gifted as Julia Brown almost never reach the audiences they deserve, but anyone who doesn't hear the loping, acoustic-guitar-driven "This Is Your Day" is missing one of the most sublime pop treasures of the year. This is someone to watch.

-Stewart Mason


From The Muse's Muse

This is rather an exciting 1st release. Immediately she claims, âIâm not Britney Spears and Iâm not out to be an R&B diva. I am determined to do something unique.â If the opening electronic beat and spooked guitar of âVictims and Villainsâ are anything to by, Juliaâs getting her wish. Have to break it to you though, girl, you have the Voice of a diva. What IS a diva? Well, that would be any girlie in tight pants who can hold a note through war, flood and Disney World lines. A woman with a wide range of vocals and nuances, a voice that can ride high the emotions of fright, love, jealousy: and that fresh young thang be Julia Brown.

The beautiful tune of âInstinct #1â have words that flow, âKick someone when heâs down/But when heâs on the ground something dies/You stop and you turn around/And suddenly youâve found/Youâre looking at someone else.â Itâs a hit. Instinct #1 probably means the quest of life; to hold on. Thatâs the great thing about Ms. Brown. She doesnât lay it down naked for you like most pop songs and sitcoms. She gives you the clues. YOU figure it out. Because she accompanies it with a tune worth of the major acts, you find yourself singing along, piecing it together with a smile somewhere close.

The 4/4 beat of âAfterglowâ is deceptive at first. Love the da da DA da da rhythm, ditto Juliaâs voice nude in front of the microphone. Of course when you sound like she does, you donât have to put on Phil Collins filters. âHang your feelings out to dry/Find a grudge to justify/Itâs never been easy/Win the battle, win the war/Itâs not a game until you score/Itâs hard not to see it.â No, itâs not hard to see that HAZE is crafted out of the same quality Celine and Mariah have used all these years. Julia just hooks up the amp to a fresher, rocker sound, more down to earth, less glitter and more bodied in its popular components.

Speaking of Mariah, sheâs got nothing on this Brown. And you donât have to wade thru some much wild-note soul, all you pop rockers out there. The tunes are memorable, not just repetitious motifs. 10 songs with plenty of throat. âInvisibleâ holds it. âThis Is Your Dayâ strums it to sleep.

Ah, to be so young and talentedâ¦