Boomerang Town. Jaimee Harris

Are there more and more women releasing records of nice to great quality or is my taste in music more and more attuned to female voices? I don't know but I notice that I'm playing ever more records made by women or bands with a female singer. Enter, Jaimee Harris, singer-songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee. Yes, expect some country and then some.

I know nothing of Jaimee Harris. Her Bandcamp page doesn't give any information, there's no bio with the album. There's only the music to convince me and it does.

The music is fairly slow. The mood always a bit melancholy. She seems to be pining for something that is just beyond reach. The sweetest and most beautiful notes come from this pining and Jaimee Harris brings them across without having to bring a tear into her voice. Singing somewhere between youthful longing and a mature resigning to fate, she moves me both ways. The more upbeat and with a fuller sound of the opening and title song contrasts with the second song, 'Sam's'. Totally subdued, slow moody strings playing accents to the voice and acoustic guitar. Both touch me, as Jaimee Harris is totally with me for the whole of the way. She sounds as if she's singing for me only. Of course, in a way she is, but this is different. She seems to be in my living room, intimate and playing and singing for me.

Boomerang Town is an album that has country as a starting point. From there Jaimee Harris moves towards ballads, folk and singer-songwriter. She also is able to build up a song to huge proportions. Throwing as it were her emotions into the face of the listener. "How could you be gone?", she not only asks, it stands in capitals in front of me, unmoveable and all-consuming. This singer is not only present, she's soaring to great heights.

With each consecutive song she shows another side to herself. Her rocking side comes out, violin and all, in 'The Fair and Dark Haired Lad'. The variation makes Boomerang Town, starting out as a country album, ever more interesting. I'm reminded of the singer-songwriter songs of The Walkabouts a lot (not their Neil Young style rock songs).

One great feature of Boomerang Town is Jaimee Harris' voice. She has a strong voice that does not need a lot of effort to impress. The voice leads the way, strong and determined, taking the listener by the hand. Walk with me and you'll be alright. At the other end of the journey, after the song in Jack Johnson style 'Missing Someone', the listener is set free, yet facing an urgent decision: Do I want to take this ride again? Chances are the answer is yes.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Boomerang Town here:

https://jaimeeharrismusic.bandcamp.com/album/boomerang-town