JOLIE HOLLAND - ESCONDIDA

I’d be willing to bet that Jolie Holland has a room somewhere in her house filled with shelf after shelf of uniquely packed mason jars. And in each mason jar is a story, pulled from her memories and observations, placed, sealed, and preserved until they’re ready to be put to music. I’d also be willing to bet she cracked about 12 of those jars open for Escondida, the proper studio follow-up to her remarkable debut album, last year’s Catalpa.
Escondida begins with the infectiously sweet \"Sascha\", in which Holland fondly recollects a leaving lover over gentle guitar strumming and drum brushing. And just as soon as the trumpet enters, the song ends, leading right into the twilight spell of \"Black Stars\". The pure timelessness of Holland’s songwriting is especially evident in the drowsy ragtime-sounding \"Old Fashioned Morphine\"; the piano-rooted gospel of \"Amen\"; the jazzy rework of old British tune \"Mad Tom Of Bedlam\" (a vocals/drum only number, where her vocals and drummer Dave Mihaly’s wicked kit work sound like some sort of lost Verve Records studio session); and a song worthy of a Willie Nelson/Hank Williams collaboration (were it possible), \"Goodbye California\".
The biggest \"problem\" with Escondida is it’s hard to stop hitting repeat with each song you listen to. What should be a 48-minute first-time listen takes an entire day; not because it’s a difficult listen, by any means, but because you become so addicted to each individual tune, you can\'t help but want to hear them over and over again. Not a bad affliction to be riddled with.