Introspective Vertigo illustrates JLC's new maturity
By LIAM FARRELL
Scene Music Critic
Vertigo is the third studio album for the North Carolina band Jump, Little Children. Although not as strong as their last effort (1998's Magazine), Vertigo nonetheless shows great promise for future development. After opening for Guster and playing dates in small clubs, Jump, Little Children seems to have earned enough respect for proper studio and production time, releasing an album that is infinitely more polished and layered than their past work.
Vertigo is a rather melancholy and slow album, and definitely not something that will show up at a dorm party. However, it is an introspective album, making it much more interesting than the self-serving music at the forefront of today's music industry.
The opening track, also entitled "Vertigo," is a song about contemplating suicide in the face of rejection, where the speaker is "Wondering should I take the fall/ Or should I take the stairs?" What makes this song emotionally bearable is the offsetting music, with a very easy groove backing up harsh emotions.
Most songs run in a similar vein as the opening title track. "Too High," "Hold Your Tongue" and "Come Around" all consider the overwhelming desire to live in your own fantasy world rather than harsh reality, a reality where the speaker cries: "I've been patient/ I've waited a lifetime" for some sort of emotional rescue. One of the strongest tracks on the album, "Yearling," is a beautiful ballad that presents the singer as only "a callow schoolboy/ in the eyes of love."
Parental issues are explored in the musically distorted track "The House Our Father Knew." With a hard-rock tempo the band delves into memories of childhood abuse. "Mother's Eyes," which has possibly the strongest melodic composition on the album, is a story about a mother's death, where people pray beside her with "tears of ashes." Having one of the more lighthearted melodies, "Words of Wisdom" is a reflection of a father's death, asking "if you will go and not return/ leave me some words of wisdom."
What is most interesting about this album is the significant role that nature plays in the lyrical content of the band. "Angeldust (Come Down)" talks about "standing on a turpentine beach" due to humanity's disregard for the environment. "Lover's Greed" explores the issues mentioned in its title through nature metaphors.
The closing and most haunting track, "Pigeon," sounds, unfortunately, like a Wordsworth poem set to music. The last line ends "with peaceful eyes unsuffering/ a pigeon floats in the tide," and although the melody is fantastic, once the lyrics are on paper it ends up a rather pretentious song.
The weakest song on the album is "Singer," a bizarre song that is more beatnik poetry than anything else. Although the rhythms are fairly good and interesting to listen to, this song does not belong within the context of the album and starts to wear on the listener after a minute or two.
Although not as strong as their previous album, Jump, Little Children have made good strides in realizing their potential. Even though the lyrics can be confusing, signaling a desperation to be seen as deep or artsy, their ability to write melodies rivals the best of the Brit-pop groups.
Overall this is a solid album. Let's just hope they stop reading 19th century poetry.
All Scene Stories for Tuesday, October 16, 2001
