Jean Caffeine
(Joe)
Singer/songwriter Jean Caffeine makes records rarely these days, preferring the visual medium to satisfy the creative urge. That might make fans impatient, but it also means a Caffeine LP is no shelf-filler - it's a statement. That's not to say Geckos in the Elevator - only her fourth album over the course of a couple of decades - is a concept album, mind you, just that it's a collection of songs that have been lovingly assembled for maximum effect - a fully realized creative vision, if you will.
Geckos follows the troubadour's usual folk/country/rock template fairly closely - there's nothing here the average No Depression fan wouldn't clasp tightly to his/her breast. But the LP isn't a series of clichés, either, given Caffeine's very personal outlook on the world. Her smarts, sensitivity and, most of all, conversational style elevate the political commentary of "Devil I Know," the storytelling waltz of "Sadie Saturday Night" and the hometown salute "Hey Austin" far above formula. She's at her best with more microscopic focus, a la the matter-of-fact emotional plea "Baby I'm Wrong," the expatriate epic "Love Letters From Laos" and the catchy character study "Jane Rearranged."
Occasionally Caffeine doesn't live up to her own potential, wedding some of her strongest melodies to indifferent lyrics, as with "Lucky Penny" and "Hugs." But those are blips in an otherwise finely tuned radar of Geckos in the Elevator.
DOWNLOAD: "Jane Rearranged," "Devil I Know," "Baby I'm Wrong" MICHAEL TOLAND
