| Singer-songwriter Jolie Holland seems to be walking blindly though her career at times. Spearhead of folk artists the Be Good Tanyas, Holland’s solo career has taken off before she could even grasp the notion. Her first album Catalpa was culled from rehearsal tapes that were compiled and distributed through a friend, unbeknownst to Holland. But it was successful.
And with the release of her second effort, Escondida, things continue to escalate, something even she seems dumbfounded by. Reflecting on the success of Catalpa, Holland realizes that she’s onto something. And (un)fortunately, thanks to her friend’s foresight with that album, the soft-spoken poetess is forced to rethink her modus with Escondida.
"The songs from Catalpa and Escondida all come from the same time," she says. "I was trying to plan out what songs to record and release when Catalpa came out. After Catalpa started doing so well, I felt the responsibility to keep releasing music. It put me in a bit of a bind, though, because I would have loved to use some of the songs on Catalpa for Escondida. I would have done better versions, but now the only option I had was to put out the songs that weren’t on Catalpa."
It sounds convoluted but it’s really pretty straightforward: Holland didn’t get the chance to be selective about Catalpa’s contents, which directly impacted what you hear on Escondida, an effort that Holland occasionally refers to as an "old" album, thanks to the wealth of historical material (some songs date back to 1994). Thrown into the pot with brand-new tunes and a few personal favourites, one might call this a greatest-hits release before anyone knows the hits.
"I pull these songs out once in a while when I’ve learned something new about the genre it’s from to see if I can add to it." Holland says the songs on the album date back to 2001, predating her work with the Be Good Tanyas. "I’m always writing and then I can pick what songs I want to put out. So yeah, it’s kind of an old album just seeing the light of day."
Regardless, Holland feels that her music is timeless. Not in the it-will-always-be-relevant sense, but in the purity of its form. Because her folk-blues-driven sound is so roots-based, there is never any worry that it will have the short shelf-life of most current music. Holland chalks it up to what she calls "ignorant creativity," a sincere love of innocent song-crafting.
"I try to keep the focus on the original spark and what keeps it creative, (so) I have a lot of respect for ignorant creativity," she says. "I don’t like that jazz-school-kid sound. There’s something about it like they’re smartasses. I’m really sensitive to what I think is bad in music (because) I’m definitely worried about sounding like a girl folksinger (or) a smartass. There are things I’d be ashamed of sounding like, so I do whatever it takes to avoid those things if possible." |
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