New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ DOREEN D'AGOSTINO MEDIA) The debut album from Amerika Jane, Half Moon to Here, is a collection of songs and styles as expansive and rooted as the ancient Blue Ridge Mountains surrounding the band's hometown of Asheville, N.C. Against a sweeping, gothic-tinged soundscape, the album is driven by the at-times haunting, at-times elevating, vocals of singer/songwriter Amerika Jane.
A self-professed "all American gal," Amerika was born in Wisconsin farm country, raised there and in Colorado, and lived in the Pacific Northwest before settling in Asheville in 2006. And while the 10 tracks offered here are steeped in a kind of coast-to-coast Americana, they are cast in Amerika's unique take on the American experience.
"What I wanted to do was give a sense of what really goes on inside America, because so much of the world outside has a distorted idea of what our country does on the world stage, and the way Americans live their lives at home," she explains. Amerika's perspective on the "land of the free," however, stretches far back and beyond the founding of the nation: Her parents built a relationship with members of the Ojibwe Indian tribe in Wisconsin, and together constructed a ceremonial sweatlodge on their property, where they host members of the tribe for long visits. "We'd would listen to them talk about their views on nature and what makes us whole as people, and the idea of what brings us back to that," she remembers.
The long view of Native American wisdom struck a chord with Amerika's own values, especially her passion for preserving the planet's ecosystems (an earlier version of her band was named "Remember the Bees" - a reference to the widespread die-offs of honey bee populations), and it has informed much of her writing. "Then again," she muses, "a lot of the songs are about love and heartbreak, and that's American too, isn't it?" Half Moon to Here is not a concept album, she stresses. "It wasn't as directed as that. We just wanted to make a really authentic, honest record that came from a place of integrity."
The album was recorded in October 2010 at Hillcreek Studio, a renovated barn at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which were bursting with autumn colors as the band went to work. Amerika says the setting was just right - rustic and real - and reminded her of her grandparents' dairy barn, only with the kind of uniquely angled rooms and vintage musical gear needed to replicate Amerika's live sounds, from the quieter, chilling moments to the ones that soar and sear.
The result is a showcase for Amerika, whose vocals are sometimes sultry but never saccharine, and are delivered with an unabashed confidence, inviting comparisons to such artists as Grace Slick, Neko Case and Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval.
The lead song, "Water in Chains," springs directly from her time with the Ojibwe Indians. "Their ceremonies focus on purifying, and preparing for a return to a better state," Amerika explains. "It got me thinking about purification of polluted waters, and how we're trying to purify ourselves. That feels heavy, and so we wanted the song to have an industrial, factory sort of feel." That feeling is achieved as Amerika sings, over a slow, minimalist, arrangement, "I drank the water, though they said it wasn't clean. Water purify me, from toxic streams."
Another standout, "No No A Go Go," is the first song Amerika ever wrote. "It's about a friend who liked to drink a lot and fall into everyone's bed - one of those kind of girls," Amerika says. "About wanting someone to take better care of herself." In the chorus, she implores her friend, "No, no, go, go go - go sleep by yourself."
Amerika revisits grander themes on "Universes," which, she explains, is "about energy, and those moments when you think about how everything is infinite, and how we're all connected through the seasons and cycles." Over a thrumming heartbeat of a rhythm, she exults, "Universes, galaxies ... I can feel it, I can feel the energy rushing through me."
Among the more introspective songs is "Sensitive Boy" - Amerika's caution to a man in her life to "stop playing games with me," as "you are no match, you see, with that ooey-gooey, sensitive heart." The song, she reveals, is "about when you feel like you've forgotten how to love - and maybe a past love or two where I was not so open or nice, looking back on it." Another poignant offering is "Beauty in Sadness," which grapples with the loss of a loved one. "It's about recognizing this: that part of the beauty of love is that when it's gone, or when someone goes, is that you miss them," she says.
For all its heady themes, "Half Moon to Here" is hardly a ponderous or maudlin affair. Amerika is as serious about entertaining as she is about her songwriting - and a last, hidden track on the album, the vintage-country "Lonely," will leave no listener in a dark place.
At present, Amerika Jane is setting to work on a second album and performing regularly at venues in Asheville and throughout the southeast. On Half Moon to Here, Amerika wrote the songs, sang lead and played rhythm guitar, and was joined by Jacob Fritzwaller (lead guitar, backing vocals), Jonathan Paul Hess (upright bass, organ, synth), and Kelly Prestood (drums, angle iron, backing vocals).
