album review: maddie jay

so, here's an album review. I think my plan for this is to feature 1 broader review a month, and maybe some quick hit reviews of other albums, as well as a bi-monthly playlist of some other songs? idk

For no reason other than me quietly declaring it to myself, I wanted to review Maddie Jay’s first full length album I Can Change Your Mind as my first review of the year. If you’ve ever asked my how I know what’s just been released, I practice the time honored tradition of looking at the Apple Music (yes, I’m an Apple Music user) browse tab for all the new albums each Friday as I make coffee at 6:30 AM. Sometimes I recognize an artist, sometimes the album art or name catches my attention, with Maddie, it was the latter. I did a quick little sample of a few of the songs and liked what I heard enough to consume it later that morning (as referenced in my songs of the year pt. 1 post).

After deciding I liked what I heard, I did my due diligence of checking her IG only to find that she’s been slappin’ the bass in Remi Wolf’s band (pretty sick), and she’s been at this for quite some time, which makes sense to me as her album sounds like someone who has formed a cohesive sense of self, which plays out in “Stop Me If I’ve Told You This Story”, a song about exactly that. The other initial standouts for me were “Eckhaus Latta”, a quick little dreamy bop, and “11th Avenue” also a dream bop, something like a downtempo Carly Rae (which if you still only think about “Call Me Maybe” when you see her name… grow up).

I revisited the album again recently, and it’s still solid, and I finally figured out what to put in the blender to get Maddie’s sound; it like if you took Imogen Heap/Frou Frou and mixed that with Billie’s slower songs. It’s floaty, dreamy, vibey, but pretty honest and vulnerable (“Every Little Thing” is heavy and beautiful). Two other songs that I haven’t mentioned explicitly that I like are “Hot Suburban” (very cool instrumentals here") and “Name Your Price” (this to me is like if Haim and Porches had a baby), all the songs that have been linked are great starting points for this album.

For Fans Of: downtempo bedroom pop

Also check out: mxmtoon’s liminal space, Lucy Dacus’ Forever Is A Feeling when it comes out, Soccer Mommy’s Evergreen, Olivia Dean’s Messy (one of my favorite albums of 2023)

Thanks for reading.