City Beach by Jill Cunniff
09/08/07 11:16 Filed in: Album Reviews
Ex-lead singer of alterna-girl pop group Luscious Jackson, Jill Cunniff releases her debut solo album ‘City Beach’ on the 3rd of September through Rykodisc.
The album is a breezy, earnest yet celebrators piece-aglow with motherly wisdom and metrical nods to the unassailable grit and colour of urban life.
With its laid back summer vibe and Jill's beautiful haunting voice, city Beach' brings a ray of sunshine to inner city surroundings and provides an apt soundtrack for, and an escape route from, the British 'Summer of Grey' that we seem to be experiencing this year.
The album is dedicated Coney Island, New York, a city beach known for its faded glory, revived through a ambient mix of melodic guitars and beats.
Jill was born and raised in NYC, and spent her days in Greenwich Village in an intense, bursting time of artists and individuals searching for like-minds to connect with. Her first musical milestone dates back to the 1980's when at the tender age of thirteen she had her birthday party at CBGB, parents in tow. With a liberating exposure to the raw, prismatic music found in the less-visible sectors of the city, junior high drool was only a day job. Traces of late night, teenage club hopping can be heard throughout Cunniff's musical choices and acute, inviting lyricism.
Jill grew up right in the heart of an ardent artistic community-where, as Jill described: 'you'd and the freshest kids breakfasting right down the street from St. Marks Sounds record shop and Rat Cage recorders, which is where Jill's friends the Beastie Boys first sold their records. Jill recalled ''we used to help our friends sell records on the street back then, and it was such a great place to learn about music- just hanging out and being a teenager. ln times to come, Jill would not only perform with, and warm up for the Beasties (and their various pre-incarnations), but would, as part of Lusclous Jackson, be the first act signed to their Grand Royale label.
In the wake of the amicable split of Luscious Jackson, Jill continued recording and collaborating with a varied, talented and brilliant group of artists. City Beach, with its strong melodies, lullaby-like tones and soothing qualities, are the fruit of this ongoing process of musical journey, Indeed, having been recently been involved a few more commercial, pop-oriented collaborations, Jill was anxious to get back into the music she loves: away from the strict formats that come with pop music and all the shoulders.
City Beach comes along with hints of what Jill listens to at home-Brazilian mirages, Bebel, alarum and Jao Gilberto and Prince Paul among many others. And it is fantastic. Enjoy
More information at www.jillcunniff.com
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