Offa Rex, “The Queen of Hearts”: Offa Rex is a collaboration between British folk musician Olivia Chaney and the bookish American indie-rock band the Decemberists. With Chaney taking almost all the lead vocals, the explicit template comes from British folk-rock bands, circa 1970, such as Steeleye Span, Sandy Denny-era Fairport Convention, and Shirley Collins with the Albion Band. Chaney sings these canonical songs beautifully, in a clear, forceful, often melancholy soprano.
“Willie o’Winsbury” and “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” are sparse and direct, but “Sheepcrook and Black Dog” and “The Old Churchyard,” are heavy and dramatic, with echoes of the Decemberists’ prog-rock opus “The Hazards of Love.” Throw in an instrumental jig or two, and “The Queen of Hearts” is deliberately anachronistic — an echo of a style that itself was an echo of centuries’-old traditions. But it’s a successful reenactment.
— Steve Klinge, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Jade Jackson, “Gilded”: “Wish I could turn salt to sugar / In the tears that are flooding my face / Then maybe the reason behind you leavin’ / Wouldn’t have such a bitter taste,” Jade Jackson sings on “Salt to Sugar,” one of the many striking numbers on her debut album. That kind of blunt emotional honesty and simple but vivid writing runs throughout “Gilded,” which reveals a young artist from small-town California who seems wise beyond her years. She already knows that actions have indelible consequences, but if she sometimes expresses regrets, she also possesses a tough-minded independence and more than a touch of youthful attitude.
Jackson’s husky voice and the album’s country-inflected rock add to the allure. According to Jackson, her producer instructed her to listen to nothing but Lucinda Williams’ “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” before recording. Whatever lessons she absorbed from that masterwork, she has used them to create a Golden State-hued Americana voice of her own.
— Nick Cristiano, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Declan McKenna, “What Do You Think About the Car?”: Declan McKenna, the 18-year-old British singer-songwriter who won over the massive Glastonbury Festival at the tender age of 16, approaches his debut album, “What Do You Think About the Car?”, with the unbridled enthusiasm of a teenager.
He takes on police brutality in the sleek, up-tempo rocker “Isombard.” He rails against religious hypocrisy in the indie-rock challenger “Bethlehem.” And he stands up for LGBT teens in the pop anthem “Paracetemol,” named for the British version of Tylenol, declaring, “The world will keep on turning even if we’re not the same,” as he tries to encourage understanding. With his sharp wit and emotive vocals, McKenna adds depth to everything he sings. Some are already calling McKenna a postmillennial Bob Dylan because his songwriting captures the interests and intensity of teenage life. That may be a lot to hang on him, but his stunning debut shows McKenna is up to the challenge.
— Glenn Gamboa, Newsday
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