The debut record, Marion, by Jenina MacGillivray is the real deal
When Jenina MacGillivray writes a song, she writes it with a paint brush. Each song is a different shade of loss, love and fate and friendship.
In this poetic gathering of stories one can easily walk right in through the door of each song and feel the textures and almost taste the colours. Much as if in a short film, she gently walks you right through, holding your hand from the beginning until the end, subtly baring all.
You see her mother’s hands, feel the cobblestones of Carvoeiro, and you can sing along. Jenina’s compelling voice leads you through these masterfully painted scenarios using intense and evocative lyrics. “Coal Mining Town” could have been written and recorded right out of the 60’s; it’s a perfect fit between Simon and Garfunkel and Gordon Lightfoot.
“Little Things” has a dirty western feel with a dreamy soundscape. Jenina sings to the sea, and the sea answers back. The over-all easy listening melodies were crafted between St. John’s, NL and Prince Edward Island; it’s no wonder you can feel (and actually hear) the ocean in there.
This delightfully dark and brutally honest potent and musical masterpiece, Marion, was produced by Jake Nicoll of Studio J in St. John’s. In every song, he leaves a place for the listener, and every kind of listener will want to hear this. Its live-off-the-floor recording allows you to hear the realness (even the breaths); you can take in the actual genius real time.
This is an album you will want to play in full from start to finish. By the third time, the nuances are really going to blow your mind, the poetry will slay you; you just can’t get it all on the first play.
Marion is an incredible addition to the wall of sound, and I encourage you to give it a listen. Cooking to it, painting to it or playing it on surround sound in the car, if you have never been able to put yourself in somebody else’s shoes, you might just be able to do that here. This collection of memories offers no bells and whistles. This is a raw work of art. Marion is the debut release from dark poetess Jenina MacGillivray.
