Despite the impact of a global pandemic, 2020 has seen some quality new music releases. So why choose to review a ten year old album which only received moderate chart success on initial release? Lissie has marked the ten year anniversary of her debut album with a haunting new single ‘Just Because I Can’. The styling of this folk track would be very much at home within Taylor Swift’s breathtaking folklore and anyone with yearning for more pop-folk music should consider Catching a Tiger as a perfect introduction to Lissie and her music. The fourth track on that album, ‘Everywhere I Go’, would feel perfectly at home on folklore. Whilst lacking great lyrical depth, the track is an expression of vulnerability in the face of love and fits the theming of Swift’s album. The lyrics repeat the lines “Angels will call on me and take me to my home” and with the sparse use of music and powerful use of backing vocals, Lissie sounds like an angel.
Lissie is a Californian based singer-songwriter who really began to break through in 2009 with her guitar driven pop-folk style and instinctively powerful and raspy vocals. If Swift’s folklore album is about the lyrics, then Lissie is undoubtedly about the voice. “She sounds like one of the greatest female vocalists of a generation, arguably without even really trying”, were the words of Mike Diver, in his 2010 review for BBC Music, of Catching a Tiger. The summer 2010 edition of Classic Rock magazine referred to Lissie as the “new Stevie Nicks”.
However, these bold labels attached to Lissie in her early career have never translated into major commercial success. Yet Lissie has developed devoted following, nurtured through incredibly powerful live performances and a sense of raw honesty in both her music and engagement with her fanbase. Lissie has also referred to the financial impact of lockdown on artists and venues and has taken to performing several online gigs during the pandemic.
Catching a Tiger shows early glimpses of the artist that Lissie has now grown into whilst hedging its bets with a more upbeat main stream pop sound at times. The opening track, ‘Record Collector’ with its jangly percussion style is a perfect introduction to Lissie’s vocal range and also captures the atmosphere of a Lissie live performance. There is even a prophetic line as she sings “I won’t even get lost again, who knows, maybe I will” lyrics which must resonate in 2020; the artist has posted some highly personal messages about her mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The record spins into the two powerful lead singles ‘In Sleep’ and ‘When I am Alone’, which bring Lissie’s smokey vocals to the fore. Whilst very much in the pop genre, both are guitar-backed tracks that could have been at home on Fleetwood Mac’s Tango in the Night. These tracks were commercially successful and are often staples of live performances but they don’t give the greatest impression of Lissie’s artistry as they are too close to standard pop fare. Nor do they add to the newfound relevance of Catching a Tiger in 2020.
‘Little lovin’’, ‘Look Away’ and ‘Oh Mississippi’ introduce more piano and you can almost smell the earthiness of a warm Autumn evening as the folk music drifts from Lissie’s cabin. Oh Mississippi a poetic ode to the great river that washes over you like a lullaby.
The two gems shimmering in the junction between pop and folk are the tracks ‘Bully’ and ‘Everywhere I Go’. The ethereal ‘Bully’ is the album’s strongest track, a heartfelt exploration of the struggles that musicians, and all of us, face as we chase our dreams. “The world is yours, carry this torch and use your voice”, Lissie sings. She uses her voice to great effect on Catching Tiger and beyond. As a starting point to the wonder of the bluesy charm of Lissie you could do far worse than add this ten year old album to your 2020 playlist.
Words by Andrew Butcher
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