Molly Jenson

In her debut album, Maybe Tomorrow, Molly Jenson brings a musical maturity far beyond your average debut artist. While this is her first venture onto the national stage, she has spent the last few years filling her trophy case with awards left and right. She’s already had songs featured on television’s Knight Rider and Privileged. All this from someone who, only a few years ago, never imagined she would be a solo artist. With her debut, Molly Jenson easily establishes herself as an artist to watch for many years to come.

The majority of the album focuses on relationships, both good and bad. She opens her album with “Give It Time,” a breezy light piano-driven song in the vein of Ingrid Michaelson. In it, she asks, “Where are you off to, in such a hurry, girl? Is something chasing you?” The entire song is a lovely encouragement to push through the difficult times, to “give it time”. She wonders what would happen if someone sees the difficulty through, emerging on the other side, victorious. Refreshingly, she does not shy away from honestly looking at life’s hardships. She embraces the fact that “There’s no use trying to stop this. There’s no use trying to make it go away.” In today’s upheaval of everything we’ve held near and dear, the sentiment is quite fitting. This is not a “smile and everything will be okay” song. Instead, it is an encouragement to be persistent and hopeful despite it all.

Along the same lines, “Wednesday” finds Jenson praying for a friend to find their way back home after hard times. The darker musical elements, complete with an almost muddy vocal effect, highlight the difficulties often present in life. But then, on the other side of life, several of the songs, including the slightly country-tinged “Alongside You” (Parts 1 and 2), celebrate romantic love and the giddiness of life. It brings a wonderful balance.

“Thinking of You” is a song to “Mr. I Don’t Know,” and Jenson sweetly sings to this mystery man she briefly met months ago. She wonders if it would mean anything to him, but says, “I can’t stop thinking of you.” You can hear her smiling as she sings. She dreams of seeing him again, and dreams of seeing him again. In “And You Were,” she celebrates a night spent walking underneath the stars with a special someone, grateful for his kindness and incredibly excited for the next time she sees him. With her lilting voice and slightly rough production, this song sounds completely off-the-cuff and live. It’s almost as if the night was so perfect that she couldn’t help but break out in song.

One of the album’s final highlights is “Do You Only Love the Ones Who Look Like You?”, a lovely duet between Molly Jenson and Jon Foreman (of Switchfoot and solo fame). Their voices blend beautifully as they look at a relationship broken apart. Jenson asks, “Who’s that girl you laugh about? Did her feeling do you wrong? You’ve been gone too long. Did you love her? Did you leave her cold? Did you see her through? Or do you only love the ones who look like you?”

Foreman then follows up, asking the girl, “Where are you now? Are you afraid of being found? Silly girl, what can you see from way up there? Is that the world in devil’s clothes? Looking down your nose? Are you lonely? Are my scars too deep?” In all these questions, there is the deep overriding realization that no one is perfect, and that without being honest and vulnerable with those around us, we could very easily end up completely alone.

Fans of Ingrid Michaelson, Schuyler Fisk, Feist, and even the Cranberries will have a new CD to add to their collection. A very promising debut.

Tagged as: Maybe Tomorrow, Molly Jenson

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#1 Christian Music News | on March 13th, 2009 at 3:53 pm

[...] Read Molly Jenson album review on Soul-Audio [...]

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