Though Fink was the headliner of this bill, it seemed there were even more Jaymay fans in the audience. The singer songwriter has apparently gotten some buzz around her and there were men and women alike that were lip singing the words when she was on stage.
Jaymay is a folk singer who writes personal songs about feeling the winter as much as she does relationships. The audience member standing next to me said she had heard one of her songs played at Starbucks and that doesn’t really surprise me. It’s accessible and sing-songy enough that it makes for wide appeal. There are seemingly no pretensions to it as it presents as honest and straight ahead with just Jaymay and her acoustic guitar. The one thing different from her and most folk artists was that she has a higher pitched humming solo in one of her songs that actually sounded a little more like a kazoo being blown through instead of a voice. I’ve never seen anyone do that on stage and I’m not sure how common this ability is but it was probably one of the moments I enjoyed most.
Jaymay herself acted incredibly flattered by the audience attention. The Long Island singer, whose full name is Jamie Seerman, received all kinds of requests for autographs and to actually hang out after the show. Though she is an attractive woman, I think much of the appeal was actually the innocence in her music that people were drawn to. There’s a lovely picture of Jaymay on the internet (you can see it on her myspace page) of her and a cat she’s lifting up in the air with girlish wonder. I think people are drawn to that image as well as the music. There’s a sense that life’s going to be tough and painful as well as happy and not only did audience members feel that way about their own lives but I think they also wanted to experience that with her…and perhaps let her be their voices as well.
Fink took the stage after Jaymay and much of the crowd stuck around although it was initially out of curiosity vs. dedication. Fink is the work of Fin Greenall currently based out of Brighton, England who plays with both a drummer and bassist on stage while he centers himself on a stool with his guitar. Playing accessible alternative music (“Make it Good” even appeared on an episode of Lost), I wouldn’t be too surprised if someday Fink rose to the same level as Coldplay even, though of course the band is a long way off from this point. Still, an edginess is present with a musicianship adept at moving forward into subtly overpowering choruses just when you thought the verse melody line would dominate the song. The songs are about typical things-always being late, or a broken up relationship meaning you feel you can’t return to a place you ate pancakes at. There is some potential with this one to be in the radar, though, so watch out for him.
Check out our video interview with Fink recorded outside Schubas on the night of the show right here-
http://www.schubas.com/interviews.aspx?interview=59
Thanks! -Schubas
Posted by: Schubas | 06/20/2008 at 01:28 PM