Jill Stevenson – L

Jill Stevenson, L

Jill Stevenson, L

Quirky cool Jill Stevenson has a new album out called L. L stands for Live, as in live recording. Stevenson moved to New York City a couple years ago, but she comes back a few times each year and, since we love her work so much, we are claiming her as a Colorado artist. L has eleven tracks of original music. All of it excellent! The production qualities aren’t what you’d expect from a studio album, but that’s true of all live recordings. It’s fun to hear the applause after each song. These tracks sound pretty good and the songwriting shines through brightly. Mostly solo acoustic singer-songwriter material played on acoustic guitar or piano with percussion accompaniment on some tracks. The best part of that arrangement is that it reflects the way she performs live and allows her beautiful voice to drive the song instead of some blazing electric guitar that might otherwise drown her out. Our favorite song is “Sugar Sweet” a yummy, sexy morsel about either food or relationships. We don’t care, as long as we get to hear her softly breathing heavily. “Keeping Secrets” has a disquieting, nightmarish feel to it. “Six Weeks” has a lower volume, which goes to show how hard it is to mix and master a live album. “Your Mess” ends the album on a sincere note about another person’s problems is “not a key to happiness.” The cover art is credited to Stevenson herself. She made it in 3rd grade. This doesn’t come off as amateurish or self-indulgent, rather it reflects Stevenson’s inability to be anything other than herself. (A comment we’ve heard her make more than once.)
Overall, we find this CD completely delightful and you should buy it.
For more info please visit: www.JillStevenson.com