Amber's Artist Recommendation: Jenny Owen Youngs

I'm an avid listener of Regina Spektor. One day I stumbled on her Myspace page and saw a link to Jenny Owen Young's page. On a whim I decided to check it out and am I glad I did. The first song I listened to involved a clever gimmick of using messages recorded on a answering machine as an intro, it was entitled "Voice on Tape." The second thing that struck me about the song were the strong yet calm vocals by Jenny that convey much emotion. The song was fairly simple but ultimately catchy and won me over. It also helped that Regina Spektor was featured on that song.

I immediately downloaded the rest of her available songs at the moment. Jenny's first album has a folksy feel to it. I enjoy it a lot for that reason. One of the standout songs for me is "From Here." It starts out with a lyric that has great imagery "Scrape you up the pavement just like I said I would, I can't stand to watch the way you break yourself against the ground." Besides that the guitar part is very amusing and the song is just great. Another track I enjoy is "Bricks." The lyrics stand out to me again. The use of guitar and some strings just puts the whole thing together very nicely.

Jenny's second album is entitled Transmitter Failure. This album steps away from the folk influence of the last and is more traditional rock. The use electric guitars is more prevalent. My favorite tracks have to be "First Person" and "Last Person." I love the narrative effect of continuing a story later on in an album. Another great track is "Clean Break" (see the video below).



Jenny Owen Youngs puts on a great live show. She has great banter with the audience and fellow bands. I saw her when she toured with Mae. Someone from Mae congratulated her on a good set. She replied, "Your mom is a good set." During the show someone said that she loved Jenny. Jenny replied, "That's good to know." She has great wit which is evident in her lyrics as well as her live performances. The set from the show I went to can be found here: set. She played to her full potential despite being an opener. The bands also arrived late. Jenny was great even in a time crunch.

You can hear more of her songs here: Myspace Her Website