Hooray for the rise of successful ladies in the music world. Boo for our inability to discuss one of them without bringing up at least two or more other musical females — as if to be a critically acclaimed songwriting woman with an instrument is to belong to some sort of indie sorority where no sister can even go to the bathroom alone, let alone have a music career. So I’ll get it out of the way here: Feist. Neko Case. Cat Power. Jenny Lewis. All great artists in their own right, and all Vagina Americans (except for Feist, who is a Vagina Canadian). But whereas Feist and friends either tackle their work with a certain amount of emotional detachment or suffer from a sometimes nauseatingly fragile persona, Jolie Holland comes across as a woman all tangled up in a messy web of melancholy ache with a burning story to tell.
Holland’s new album The Living And The Dead is a confessional, intimate story. But this time around, with three previous albums under her belt, Holland is more pronounced, ready. While keeping the same mix of hushed beauty and spooky old-time feel, Holland seems much more direct and confident, a forwardness that risks losing some of the mystery, but instead ups the awe factor. When on “Palmyra” she sings, “You could tell I didn’t care/ You kept pushing ’til I did/ Woke up in a pit of despair on your bed/ And I wondered how I could do without you/ How absurd,” the directness turns what, on the surface, seems like a horribly cruel thing to say into an earnest confession. Only a songwriter and singer with Holland's command could make this declaration and leave the listener feeling a pang of sorrow for the narrator.
But there’s hope to be found amidst the songs about what-could’ve-been and what-never-will-be; on the deceptively low-key “You Painted Yourself In,” Holland might call you out for getting yourself into this mess, but instructs you to “Place your foot up on the air/ And climb up on that invisible stair/ And when you rise into the wind/ Remember that’s exactly the place/ You painted yourself in/ You have no choice except but to fly.” Even if it’s on the wings of despair, you’re still airborne, so buckle into The Living And The Dead and let Jolie Holland be your co-pilot.
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