Slipping In Under The Expectations: Living Under June By Jann Arden

The Good: Excellent voice, Generally good lyrics
The Bad: Musically unimaginative, Whiny
The Basics: A disappointment after the good single "Insensitive," Living Under June makes me recommend Dar Williams instead!


Living Under June was one of those albums I had on my shelf for a few years and it was only after a year of not listening to it that I popped it back in my c.d. player because I wondered why. When I played it, I suddenly understood why I hadn't listened to it in so long. I felt a bit bad about it, but the truth is, it justifies completely the way I buy musical discs. As a general rule, I won't buy a disc unless I have heard three singles off it that I like a lot.

Living Under June has a few distinct advantages musically; the writing is good and Jann can sing. She sings well in fact. The writing has a tendency to be intelligent, that is that it has pretty good diction and some of the tracks (like "Gasoline") use words that don't appear in the typical pop rock songs. And Jann Arden's voice is sophisticated, refined and precise. She has excellent range from tenor to occasional moments of soprano.

The bulk of the album, however, sounds tired and it's thus tiring to listen to. That is, Arden's voice, while it illustrates excellent range, quickly gets stuck in the lower range, at a slower pace that sounds bored. More than the themes, the rhythms are slow and they are accompanied by dull music. The upbeat sound of "Insensitive" is one of the few on the album which has a reasonably up-tempo sound on a album filled more with the slow drawn out sounds of "Could I Be Your Girl" and "Living Under June."

Moreover, "Insensitive," which is probably the album's best track, illustrates a pretty common discrepancy between the emotive denotations of the lyrics and the sounds of the music. "Insensitive" is far too poppy a sound to be a lament about someone who is upset over the insensitivity of another. There's no rancor, there's no real feeling of being upset outside the irony-filled words. Imagine Fiona Apple or Dar Williams' "February" put to a disco beat and you have the same level of discontinuity between lyrics and music on Living Under June. That's an example of a problem that is evident on much of the album; songs with lyrics that don't match the music in a genuinely emotive way.

Anyway, it's a sad thing to hear someone with such lyrical talent and such a good voice (though she does sound whiny at times) get lost on such repetitive sounding songs that are incongruent with her lyrics. The slower, more plodding "Living Under June," for example, contrasts the dull guitars and muted drums with a more nasal sound. It kills the natural voice of Arden and causes the album to suffer greatly upon replay.

While the appeal of "Insensitive" may encourage one to purchase this album, it really is the most clever thing on here and it is not without its own flaws. Listen to the simple up-down of the notes in the refrain of that song and you have a good idea of the instrumental simplicity of Living Under June. It becomes less of a surprise that Arden failed to chart more singles from this album in the U.S. when one listens to the whole thing. The instrumentals on the album are confined to a very small range.

The best track is "Insensitive" and the weakest link is "Unloved."

For other female artists, be sure to visit my reviews of:
21 - Adele
South - Heather Nova
The Beauty Of The Rain - Dar Williams

4/10

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© 2011, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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