I don't know where or how long she's been hidden away but Jamie-Sue Seal has something goin' on. And it's music so real and true that it hits me like a shot of of fresh air. I've listened to "Fly Away" over and over again to f-e-e-l the music. Some reviews call Seal's music roots, Americana, eclectic...and that rap is true enough...but it just doesn't do it justice. Her music is no doubt influenced by the best impulses of country, blues, rockabilly, and gospel - filtered through Seal's incredible lens. But the music is so earthy and spiritual that it's really "Soul Music" - "Jamie-Sue Soul". Music colored in sepia tones with themes at once so personal as to be universal...a searching lyricism that appears almost effortless in revealing complex emotions and liberating dormant memories (from the ancient tomb).

Seal's edgy alto can whisper and soar. She can BREATHE nuance and meaning into a lyric. And she possesses the perfect pitch and range to make it All work. Her voice is sensual - something more than sexy. And knowing...she's been around the piss-pot lookin' for the handle. And she ain't afraid to tell you about it. She's at once strong AND vulnerable....and very human.

Jamie-Sue even has a great LOOK - ethnic and tangled in the most sensuous and compelling way - the earth mother, the native soul - provocative but nurturant and healing. And she's got a mojo risin' that's pure magic. Seal's charm and warmth gives me the CHILLS. That's good 'cos most music these days leaves me listless and bored. By the time "product" reaches the masses it's far too diluted, formatted, and homogenized to contain any sense of humanity or honesty. Jamie Sue Seals music has not been co-opted in that manner. But her popularity IS growing - word is out on the streets.
"Fly Away" is gettin' airplay on over 40 radio stations! And by January '03 it reached #17 on at least one Folk, Country, & Bluegrass Chart

So listen up, let me tell ya what the buzz is all about....

The disc opens righteously with "Homeward Bound", a country/gospel ode to the life's circular motions. Can it be that we "never go home"? Or does our soul and spirit - like a drop of rain - return to the source no matter how far away the road. Such journeys and arrivals may be prompted by loss, change, or an "empty nest". And love just might be the answer - not a spasmatic hot-loin kinda love but that warm enduring feeling that comes when "I wrap myself all up in you". Seal's lyrical punctuations...those vocal asides at the end of each verse like: " So very tired of being alone...now-I-know" or "Got to get where the home fires glow... when-I-do" are just small examples of her masterful craft.

A wah wah guitar riff sets the tone for "Mustang Summer", a straight out country rocker that recalls the sass of Juice Newton when she tickles Emmylou with Charlie Feathers and Sleepy La-Beefs Bonnie Rait in a joyous celebration of running wild and free. But such memories are so fluid...can it be real? I hope so... a longing is revealed by the wish of "doing it all over again". Y-E-S.

"So Long, I'm Gone" is a country blues gem about lost love. Seal's concise lyricism is compelling...
"Anywhere but healing is a place in my heart"
"Misery lives there, filling every corner with the scars"
"Moving in and holding on, and I don't wanna share that space no more"

The singer's devastation is masked by the uptempo funky groove of the music. Like any GOOD blues singer, Seal is deep inside herself while she sings outside of the blues, transcendant and knowing. Great piano solo by Mike Rojas. A song so quietly powerful it sneaks up on you.

Track 4 starts out with some fairly standard circular rock-guitar riffs and rumbling drums...but when Seal starts singing - lighting up the grooves with those wonderful pipes - it becomes a powerful tale of betrayal and regret. The refrain "Secrets - traitor to my heart" reveals those internal scars that are so durable... even when we put so much - too much - energy into burying those memories. Trouble is they always come back to bite us on the ass. And the drums begin to rumble...

"Hold Me" is a mid-tempo ballad about a bittersweet love affair that is coming to an end. Neither one wants to admit a mistake. Instead they "tear each other up" and "tear each other down". Seals sings "hold me" as a plea for understanding and truth until they get to the "other side" of their relationship.... and move on. It's just way too up front and honest for most men.
...'cos us guys - we don't wanna talk about it

"Floating" begins with anthemic rock guitar and booming drums mic'd up front. The musical drama belies the wistful sentiments expressed by Jamie-Sue..."floating" as if in a dream..."sailing with him again...but he's chasing rabbits in the sky". As I listen more closely the feelings expressed seem more complex. In a parallel process human love and spirituality merge (or are they one and the same?) to give the singer comfort and perspective in a time of loss.

"Drinking The River Dry" is a mid-tempo rocker with breathless vocal echoes that landscape the song's devastating themes. It's a song about a relationship that ended in "pain and sorrow". She feels betrayed and wants to let go of the pain but the longing just brings sorrow....so she just sittin' here - in the cover of night - drinkin' the river dry. Seals' refrain evokes powerful images...
"Rising moon - my only friend"
Deep in the night - the river flows again"
The song's central theme is introduced at the beginning..."If you go, walk away from me slowly" - and reprised at the end. A poignant statement... of survival

"Midnight Run" recalls a DEE-TROIT shuffle all the way to Memphis...on a midnight run. It's an uptempo rocker with great syncopated rhythm stomped out by the drummer and punctuated by a rich and pure organ riff that sounds like a Hammond B3. TASTY. The music is as hot and driven as her desire. LOTSA fun

"Everything Will Be Alright" is based on a haunting jazz riff with some very cool minor chordings and an acoustic excursion into latin rhythms. Seals' narrative is hopeul and healing. The aural tones support the perspective in the lyric.

"Zephyr Wind" is about a love so soothing and pure that it's like a gentle breeze. And like any true and abiding love it is synchronous and reciprocal. These lovers are REALLY there for each other. But it's more profound than one imagines as this is a love first discovered at birth and it becomes the template for all other loves in our life. If only...

"Crossroads" is an ode to change. The way relationships begin and end in a natural progression as we grow and discover who we are. It may be natural or even necessary... and very human - but it ain't easy.
"It's time to say goodbye my friend"
"The winds of change come over me..."
"What will tomorrow bring?"
"Crossroads your making me blue"
Amen...the pain of human growth and discovery

The title track "Fly Away" closes the disc. And what a closer!!! It's got everything goin' for it. Great shuffling backbeat...jammin' good and true... musical shifts, erupting guitars driving the impulse. And those glorious Jamie-Sue vocals! There's even a mid-song break followed in turn by some incredible acoustic and electric pickin'. Those guitars whine and squeal and signal the simultaneous thrill and fear of individuation. It takes courage to fly away...

So there you go... "Seal Soul", twelve songs from the heartland, eleven written or co-written by Jamie-Sue Seal. This is a disc that gives me hope for the future - that the decline and fall of western civilization is not so imminent. It is astonishing that Seal was able to capture the spirit of our roots and conceive original music this compelling and genuine. It just doesn't happen every day. And it's certainly not on the radio (enough). Jamie-Sue Seal is a beacon of light...the "real thing" in a raging sea of mediocrity and false "American Idols". Tune in to the good vibration

Bo White
5/2/03