Jenny On Holiday – Quicksand Heart (Transgressive) (13th Floor Album Review)
Jenny is Jenny Hollingworth and she’s on holiday from Let’s Eat Grandma, the duo she formed with her friend Rosa Walton when both were teenagers.
With Let’s Eat Grandma (or LEG) on the backburner…their most recent album was released in 2022…Jenny steps out on her own, although Walton is still in the mix, appearing on three of this album’s 10 tracks.
So, does Jenny have a voice of here own…something to say that she couldn’t with LEG?
On first listen, the answer would be a tentative no…opening tracks Good Intentions, Quicksand Heat and Every Ounce Of Me are standard mid-20s pop/rock fare, solid production, pumping dance beats and lyrics that one can vaguely identify with, if you can make them out.
But then things get interesting.
These Streets I Know is different. The production is stripped back, the mood is a bit darker and the lyrics are more thoughtful. But beter still, Jenny souns like she hasa a voice of her own.
Fortunately is doesn’t end there.
Pacemaker follows and it also grabs (and holds) my attention.
“I need some shock to keep my pulse alive.” Guitars are strummed…drums pound and Jenny sounds like she’s invested in what she’s doing rather than simply cranking out another “banger”.
The ruminative Dolphins keeps me hooked , while Groundskeeping seems to be and ode to gardening.
Yes, as we make our way through the track list, is sounds like Jenny does have something to say…and her own voice with which to say it.
By the time we get to Do You Still Believe In Me, one last dramatic dance-floor filler, I’m willing to give in to Jenny’s pop aspirations.
The final track, Appetite finds our hero declaring, “I’m moving on”, while asking, “Do I make
you feel?” After wading through the first three tracks and then getting to the good stuff, the answer is eventually and unequivocal…“Yes!”
Marty Duda
Quicksand Heart is out now on Transgressive Records
