Jennie Wayne – The Farthest I Came

contributor: Hoyt Emerson – June 16, 2009

You know what garage band is right?  It’s that program that comes stock on a lot of macs.  It’s sort of a watered down pro tools/reason program that lets a lot of people try to make recordings.  Most people don’t get much from this other than scratch tracks.  That is, however, unless you are the talent that Jennie Wayne is.  She decided to do her entire E.P., The Farthest I Came, on this very simple and novice program.  And within this fine constraint, she managed to record an absolute gem.

Usually I will talk about songs on the album first but let’s start with the voice.  Jennie likes Patti Griffin and that is very, very apparent.  I am a big fan of Griffin, and because of this I was interested to hear her emulation of her heroes.  Her voice could be described as an alto soprano with a message.  Though this may sound very cliche, it is heavenly, angelic and all divine metaphors in between.  The first song on the E.P., “Sail Away Poor Boy”, chimes with her melody,  soft harmony and finger picked guitar.  The chorus is heart breaking but not exactly with the lyric choice [Hey boys, hey watch me fly, Hey boys, I'm sailing away].  It is instead in her unbelievable delivery and inflection.  Truly, hers is an amazing grasp of  vocal range and note choice.  Wayne does not just depend on her voice for artistic credit though.  The second song on the E.P., “Fathers,” is a fragile lyrical take on men and fatherhood.  An amazing choice of melody and impeccable performance showcases the command of her voice and songwriting.

Wayne’s melodies do stay consistent from song to song, but that is the least of your concerns when listening to her E.P.  Her decision to sing within a range gives you exactly what you want each time a new track starts.  You want her to hit those notes, to sing that melody and to whisper those lyrics.  Amazingly, the songs are short, obviously done at home and are similar but in all the ways they should be.  For 19 minutes you are allowed to listen to flawless vocals consistantly tackling chord after chord.  “Where I Lay Down”, “Come back To Me” and the closer, “Hopeful, Hopeful” are just that.  They are very hopeful.  While I think that Wayne could venture further into more artistic territories she really doesn’t need to.  She simply needs to sing what she is singing on each of these songs to get the listener to not just hear her, but to slowly fall in love.