Jenny Owen Youngs Transmitter Failure Review Date: January 4th, 2010
Reviewed By: Rating: Not Yet Rated
"Led to the Sea"

In this day and age, artists should not be able to rest on the laurels of just one really good single anymore. But when I first heard Jenny Owen Youngs’s(?) song “Led To The Sea” on AOL radio, I knew the album would be awesome. And it is pretty awesome. But none of the tracks quite live up to just how great that song is. It’s an amalgamation of dance, pop, indie, and obviously solo female rock. The overall grit of the track, the organ, the snare/hat rhythm that just explodes into a huge chorus and back into the subdued verses.

“Followed your breadcrumbs, they led to the sea.”

Jenny’s harmonies make my mouth water there. It’s undeniably likable. Now, I keep going off on how great this song is. But, this album was ranked higher than a handful of other great albums. There are so many other good songs on here like, "If I Didn't Know", which is a chill keyboard, rhythm, clap, love song. She is so good at hitting dynamics! From chill to explosive choruses, she has a penchant for pop that compares to a lot of the current and most popular female artists. This is only Jenny Owen Youngs debut album. It's fun, it's mature, it's flirty, it's ambitious, it uses a ton of really crazy and random and weird instruments. They all work perfectly to form a whole that, at it's heart, is a wonderful pop album.

Also, I really dig it when artist use recurring themes and vocals throughout an album showing up at different points. From the first track, “First Person”, to the corresponding track...well, “Last Person”. You will notice some similar lyrics sung in different ways. I love albums that progress and bring you back to something memorable but change it up in slight ways. If there are choruses to bring you back to a melody or feeling or lyric in songs...why can't you do it with songs within the album?