Track Listing

1. Sascha
2. Black Stars
3. Old Fashioned Morphine
4. Amen
5. Mad Tom of Bedlam
6. Poor Girl's Blues
7. Goodbye California
8. Do You?
9. Darlin' Ukelele
10. Damn Shame
11. Tiny Idyll/Lil Missy
12. Faded Coat of Blue

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15930 in Music
• Released on: 2004-04-27
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Amazon.com
Jolie Holland's first album recorded in an actual studio is a sumptuous affair that extends her indie country and folk sound further into the realms of old-school jazz and country blues. But this is no quaint revivalism; ye olde sounds are made modern by smart lyrics that reference feminist writer/adventurer Isabelle Eberhardt on the whimsical "Old Fashion Morphine," or that speak of "a couple of food stamps and a caffeine buzz" on "Poor Girl." The arrangements are subtle and sophisticated, showing more breadth than those on her debut, Catalpa, with fewer instruments in the way of her superlative voice. Her singing has such soul and energy that she's as often compared to Chan Marshall and Karen Dalton as she is to Billie Holiday. Her update of the old Irish folk song "Tom of Bedlam" is brilliant, just vocals with roiling jazz drums behind it. It's difficult to think of a more compelling sophomore record by a young singer-songwriter, Norah included. --Mike McGonigal

Customer Reviews

Sweet Jolie- The Queen of em All
I'm not objective- Jolie Holland and her music make me crazy. I don't think of Escondida as a cd that I listen to, I think of it as a place that I go and that I need. I think there are people who get religion and can't get enough of it- they've felt the holy spirit roll down their spine and out their toes and now- nothing else will do. That's how I feel about Jolie. Before her I was a skeptic, but honest to god I've been converted and now I'm a mystic.

A Unique Vocalist
There's a reason Tom Waits picked Catalpa, Jolie Holland's first album post-Be Good Tanyas, for the Shortlist Music Prize last year: it's original and beautiful and uncompromising. Escondida is Holland's first studio album. Less rough hewn than her all-demos debut it's just as rooted in her spooky, sultry terrain of old-timey country and Left Bank street jazz, with a little more weight on the latter this time. Her voice, while it can evoke a young Billie Holiday, is all her own and straight from Texas. It slinks, curls and arches like a cat with the run of the place. It's exquisite, like a good jazz trumpeter improvising her way through the woods or around town or up a dirty flight of stairs. (In that sense she's a lot like Billie Holiday). And she's backed up by musicians who know how to dance with her and lyrics that ache and flicker with implications. ("Well, I used to be an angel, now I'm just like everybody else/ Used to be an angel, now I'm just like everybody else/ I left my wings in the gutter/ And my halo is lost . . . dusty on a shelf") Besides playing guitar, ukelele, fiddle, and piano herself, Holland can whistle like a dream. Let's hope this is just the start of a decades-long career. Even if it isn't she's already added to the stock of the world's beautiful sounds with her these two albums. Amen.

Unique
I'm trying to think of a comparison to other artists that describes Holland's work on this album, because that's how I tend to describe music to other people. In this case, it's very difficult and, invariably, someone will disagree. Maybe it sounds like Patsy Cline doing a Billie Holliday impersonation (or vice-versa) covering a Tom Waits song. Or like Over the Rhine covering Joe Henry songs. Like I said, it ain't easy to describe.

What IS easy, however, is stating that this is a great album. Jolie has a voice that isn't easily captured in the low-bandwidth Amazon samples (it is SO much better!). This is an album full of quirky tunes, even the silliest of which are rendered with an odd kind of beauty.

Like Norah Jones, it's a little bit country and a little bit jazz. Unlike Norah Jones, however, it's also a little bit weird, in the best sense of that word. It's admittedly not the best comparison, but this music doesn't really compare to much that has come before.

Jolie Holland is a great singer. She's a very unique songwriter. This is a great album. Sometimes you just gotta take a chance, and this album is a chance worth taking.