‘Taffy Town’ is a wonderfully creative album based on a real imaginative town that Jourdann conceived in her head. In it, each song follows the journey of the main character through a series of highs and lows while they try to find love in an unloving, bleak, and grim town. Stylistically, Jourdann adopts a myriad of genres and influences on this record. Her predominant form does lend itself towards a more acoustic, indie-pop style but elements of the album veer more towards a targeted folktronica.
Jourdann, who writes, produces, and plays all the music on this project, recorded it in its entirety from the comfort of her own bedroom. As a result, there is an element of rawness to it, a stylistic authenticity that makes it her own. The New York based artist has a melancholic voice, one that’s deep and sedative almost. On the opening track, ‘I Can’t Stop Thinking of You’, she lets the piano take centre stage before she enters with a morose performance about a crush that you don’t feel worthy enough for but you just can’t help to have them on your mind.
And that theme of love, or rather, love in the face of adversity, forms the basis of Taffy Town. Simmering in Sadness outlies a story about a secret that you want to release but you withhold all the same. Taffy Town is more societal, outlying a tale about two girls who are in love despite the town being adamantly against it. Sick of It is a more tired piece, one that expresses the anguish of crushing over those you can never have. Lovelorn Ghost is slightly resentful, describing a past lover who you loved far more than they reciprocated. And finally, Don’t Want Your Kind is about that secret that you have to confess to someone you hold dear, despite the risk of it completely tearing you apart.
But while the content may lead for heavy listening, the soundscapes and styles offer quite the opposite. It’s floatingly atmospheric, mellowly stripped back, and powerfully performed. Jourdann’s mastering style places her vocals in front of the production at all moments, allowing her voice to carry you through each track in a poetic lyrical journey. She carries so much emotion in each delivery, its enough to make you feel the sheer weight of each song’s meaning all that much more.
So, for any fans of folk, folktronica, or broadly speaking, any singer-songwriter music that is deeply emotive, Taffy Town is for you.
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