Sara Jackson-Holman – When You Dream

contributor: Hoyt Emerson, June 2, 2010

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Getting signed to a label in this day and age has become little more than an enigma wrapped in a puzzle. A unicorn playfully galloping on a rainbow. Its a gorgeous idea filled with freedom and wishes made true. The inconvenient truth of the matter is that getting your band or self signed to a label that can take a risk on an unproven artist is nearing mythical stature. Not that it doesn’t happen, but the shear number of bands, good or bad, is simply to large to find everyone that piece of the pie. In fact, when you hear about it happening it usually leads to a head scratching moment where you’re thinking to yourself, “They chose those guys?”. Shameless entitlement aside, its a confusing part of the business. How does it work?

Well, Sara Jackson-Holman’s bio is pretty much a step by step process of explaining how it happened. An excerpt from the bio follows:

“It all started with Sara attending a Blind Pilot concert. She then went to their Myspace page and added a fan comment. The next thing she knows, Anthony McNamer (Expunged Records President) contacts her, asking her if the voice on her Myspace page was truly hers.”

You’re kidding me right? Does this really happen? Its the proverbial WTF??? that perplexes most people when they hear stories like this, but in Jackson-Holman’s case it is an understandable inevitability. All while being a mere 21 years of age.

On her Expunged Records debut, When You Dream, Jackson-Holman’s voice does ask the listener to wonder whether it is her’s throughout the record. Comparisons to her vocal styling shift from song to song. The opener, “Come Back To Me”, wreaks of Feist and Regina Spector while the bouncy “Cellophane” tricked me into thinking it was Portland’s own beloved Luz Mendoza of Y La Bamba. It’s not a criticism to say you sound like a lot of amazingly talented singers, but it does change from song to song. The title track on the record showcases Jackson-Holman’s classically trained piano talent. A skill she conveniently possessed to accommodate her luscious vocal arrangements. Her affection for the 3/4 time does get a bit monotonous as it drives “My Thorny Romance”, “Red Ink”, “Maybe Something’s Wrong” and “Let Me In” but considering there are twelve songs they are spread well throughout the album. Lyrically, you’d think a 21 year old has little to sing about, however, there are some real gems on When You Dream. “California Gold Rush” is a lovely mountain of metaphors to explain the feeling of love rushing over us. Even so, Jackson-Holman does becomes a victim of played out imagery at times (“Set my heart on fire” from “Train Song”). Its still a bit of a low blow to look at the lyrical content of a 21 year old who is obviously way ahead of the curve when it comes to songwriting. Its a perfect storm of image, talent and luck that got her where she is.

I’ll take my chances and say the Sara Jackson-Holman’s debut album is a definite sign of great things to come. A true talent, its exciting to know there are still Cinderella stories in the music business. That you can still have dreams. That there is a Unicorn out there somewhere, galloping on a rainbow, listening to kick ass music.