Something To Say To You

Kansas-born/Maryland-based singer/songwriter Jordana Nye (aka Jordana) makes deeply intimate, handcrafted bedroom pop that brings to mind a wry combination of Cat Power and Beck. Its a potent, 90s-inspired vibe she first displayed on 2019s Classical Notions of Happiness and one which she further develops on 2020s engaging Something to Say to You. The album again finds her recording on her own with some production assistance from electronic artist Melvv. Though she primarily utilizes a guitar, bass, and drum set-up, theres also a kaleidoscope of instruments and effects on display here, including what sound like toy pianos, African kalimbas, reversed electric guitar riffs, and tape loops; all of which add to the homemade quality of the album. Theres also a palpable emotional power to Jordanas music that feels bigger and more cinematic than the term bedroom pop implies. While her soft voice often barely soars above a whisper, as on the buoyantly spacy Reason (which sounds like Lens Steal My Sunshine on Benadryl), she nonetheless has a knack for crafting memorable pop anthems. Cuts like Guaranteed, Far Away from You, and Divine are infectious songs grounded by lyrics that feel like Jordana is reading us her journal. On the soul-inflected I Guess This Is Life, she sings, Walked past that house party two times already/Heard all the dogs bark and tryin to walk steady/Ran down this road yesterday in the sunshine/But now I cant even see with the streetlights. Its that alchemic sense that Jordana is conjuring pop magic out of the mundane details of everyday life that makes Something to Say to You a kind of revelatory experience. ~ Matt Collar