Strange Beginnings. Jennifer Tefft and the Strange

With two singles on this blog already, it does not come as a surprise album Strange Beginnings makes it to this page as well. The good news is that the album matches my expectations completely. The better news is that the album is more varied than expected. The best news is that Jennifer Tefft and band rock hard in the best of ways.

Single 'Caffeine' opens the album with a huge surge of energy going back all the way to the 80s when bands released singles like 'Love Like Blood' and drummers drummed like Mel Gaynor. Over this all Jennifer Tefft is singing like there's no tomorrow. With passion and coolness. Don't ask me how she mixes the two but she is doing it superbly. The description makes for nostalgic rock from long ago. It isn't though because 'Caffeine' has so much urgency. The chugging steam train effect at the end underscores it all. Arriving in the here and now fast, while not forgetting the past.

The surprising thing about Strange Beginnings is that the band obviously is a fan of the band Heart. Where Heart lost me in the AOR form of rock it explored in the second half of the 80s and rising to even bigger commercial success, Jennifer Tefft does attract me. If we forget the folk side of the early Heart, on Strange Beginnings those two sides of Heart are mixed in a very good way. 'Crazy On You' meets 'Alone' as it were. Just listen to 'Paper Cut' and you'll know what I mean. Jennifer Tefft sings a little like country singer Karen Jonas here as well, winning me over even more.

Listening into the album, you will find several different styles. This is an album of music lovers who like several sorts of music. And why limit yourself to one sound? So, there's a more hardrock song moving towards metal in the heavy riffing ('Shoulda Known Better'), more alternative rock from the 80s ('Going Out') and the already mentioned classic rock of Heart. It all leads to very varied listening. Something I've been doing on repeat the past days. For a short moment in time there does not seem to be any other music pressing itself on me.

Agreed, Strange Beginnings is not a beacon of light where musical renewal is concerned. It is an album that celebrates what came before. Jennifer Tefft and the Strange do it with all they've got and that comes across no little. This is an extremely strong album providing the band with that "second chance to burn", Tefft sings about in 'Second Chance'.

By the time the other single 'Going Out' comes by with its The Black Keys rhythm, combining it with punkrock/pop in a Blondie style, I'm floored. This album that took me by storm.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Strange Beginnings here:

https://jennifertefft.bandcamp.com/album/strange-beginnings