 by Rob van Alstyne
JoAnna James the voice: sultry, soulful, a lived-in conveyor of world-weary wisdom alternately seductively breathy or intimidatingly booming in scope. JoAnna James the person: bubbly, personable and—the big surprise—young. It would be hard to reconcile the cheerful 23-year-old woman sitting across from me with the person one envisions after listening to Desire, James’ about-to-be-released second album, if I hadn’t already witnessed James in concert. I would have had a hard time believing that this chipper, wide-eyed St. Paul native could really be the force behind the poignant ache of songs like “Don’t Try” or the feral ferocity of “Desire” if I hadn’t seen the proof with my own eyes.
Download an mp3 of JoAnna James’ song “Wake.”
 Once
I got over the temporary disconnect between “the voice” and the
person behind it I quickly moved back to savoring James’ work. Desire
wisely marries James’ unforgettable windpipes to myriad musical settings,
resulting in a huge leap forward from last year’s self-titled debut, which
was largely an exercise in straightforward solo acoustic singer/songwriterdom
(although certainly not without it’s own share of compelling moments).
“The first record was fine for the time being,” claims James during
our early evening interview meet-up. “But I met some musicians shortly
after and then we started playing as a band and pretty soon I felt the live
show wasn’t capturing what was on the CD which was all acoustic and soft
and polished. There was a period when the band was starting where I just started
realizing how exciting it was to be playing with other people and getting excited
about performing. I was getting to the point where I realized that there’s
only so much you can do by yourself.”
One listen to Desire quickly proves James isn’t just paying lip
service to the joys of band-dom. Couched alongside the balladry one would expect
from her previous effort comes slick R&B tinged-pop (“Wake”),
down and dirty blues inspired dirges (“Molasses”) and even an old
gospel number (the traditional “Trouble of the World”). The end
result is probably the most diverse local pop album released this year. Not
all of it works —one or two of the more rocking numbers feel a bit blustery—but
that’s part of enjoying the ride. James is clearly far from worried about
fitting into anyone’s preconceived notions of what young female singer/songwriters
are supposed to sound like. And it’s a testament to her skills that when
she tackles chestnuts like Otis Redding’s “Dreams to Remember”
in concert—a bold move that could easily go awry—the end result
is sublime rather than silly.
Fortunately, unlike most technically solid singers in this “American Idol”
era, James doesn’t abuse her gifts. There’s the rare slip into overly
emotive vocal showboating, but restraint generally reigns, which makes the moments
when James chooses to unleash the full power of her voice (the exuberant outro
on “Wake” being my personal favorite) all the more cathartic.
“It’s a matter of staying true to the form of each song,”
claims James of her singing style. “There are certain songs where if I
were to belt it out it would just sound ridiculous. That’s what was so
cool about all the musicians who played on this record—it was never about
overplaying. Nobody had that attitude of ‘oh look at me I can play this
bass solo or I can rip it up on the keys.’ All of the players were just
so down to earth and focused on the songs, they gave each of the songs just
the right amount of attention. It wasn’t about anything but serving the
song. Those moments where you do kind of belt it out wouldn’t be as powerful
if you were just letting it out all the time.”
 The
crew not “overplaying” on Desire is impressive, featuring
regular backing band Zac Selissen (lead guitar), bassist Ben Foote and drummer
Luke Anderson, in addition to cameos by some notable Minnesota music names,
including violinist Jessy Greene (who’s played with everyone from the
Jayhawks to R.E.M.), Duluth slide guitar extraordinaire Charlie Parr and Honeydog’s
keyboardist Peter Sands. Also guesting on Desire is Chris Koza, a talented
singer/songwriter in his own right and close friend of James.’ In addition
to writing one of Desire’s strongest cuts (“Don’t Try”)
and contributing occasional instrumental fills, Koza helped produce the record.
“Chris and I became fast friends a little over a year ago and musically
I just have so much admiration for him,” claims James who moonlights in
Koza’s backing band when her busy schedule permits. “His music has
such an original spin to it and even just the way he phrases his language, it’s
very fun and quirky. I kind of had this daydream and hope that he would maybe
consider bringing some of his vision to my songs, which can tend to be a little
more basic, and I just wanted them to have a new sort of life. So that’s
just what I approached Chris about in terms of collaborating and he was totally
down for it. So he was there during the entire recording time and helped with
figuring out the best takes, he did the drum sequencing on a song, offered arrangement
tips—he acted kind of like an overseer.”
Whether it was because of Koza’s helping hand or not, James appears to
have accomplished her goal of creating a quirky and unique lyrical world for
Desire. There’s the occasional love song or disgruntled missive
to an ex-beau, but there’s also songs about the soul sucking force of
dead-end jobs (“Save Yourself”) and the perils of unquestioned patriotism
(“Stripes”), much of it written in an evocatively literate stlye
(“Young baby / Reads misery perfectly / Sees that Mommy smiles rarely
and Daddy can’t seem to breathe properly”).
 “Songwriting
to me is always about human experience,” explains James of her process,
“and that’s so varied and complex that there’s always something
to write about. Just walking down the street I see volumes of things that could
be written about and turned into songs If you set out to make a really good
happy pop record and that’s your goal—cool—but for this record
it was driven by the whole idea of wanting to examine the nature of desire.
And desire is so complex and colorful—sometimes it can be that basic feeling
of ‘oh my God does this person like me or not’ and then sometimes
it can be ‘why am I driven to go to this shit-hole job everyday when that’s
not what my heart is telling me to do.’ So it goes from the very basic
level of the word to kind of deeper understandings of it, like examining the
sort of patriotism addressed in a song like ‘Stripes,’ and asking,
‘Is that sort of desire fabricated and manufactured in the culture?’”
A thoughtful and undeniable young talent, seeing where James heads on her future
musical endeavors should be one of the more exciting tasks on Minnesota-music-fans’
to-do lists over the next decade. “I’m in a privileged situation
right now where I’ll always have a place to call home,” admits James
when discussing her future musical plans. “So I’m not stuck in that
situation of, ‘Oh my God if I don’t make it I’m going to be
living out on the street.’ The goal is really to be doing music full time
and as much as possible, which is really tricky because I don’t have the
financing behind me for that right now. But really like the touring I’ve
done, even though it’s just been smaller coffee shops and things like
that, because that’s really the only way you can start getting the experience—I
still loved it.” ||
JoAnna James and her band perform the CD release party for Desire
on Wed. July 6 at the Fineline Music Cafe with Michael Handler, Chris Koza Band
and Ash St. John. 7 p.m. (JoAnna James at 9 p.m.) 21+. TBA (print out your own
free tickets at www.finelinemusic.com).
318 First Ave. N., Mpls. 612-338-8100.
Find out more about JoAnna James on her official website
at JoannaJames.com.
Head
on over to our mp3 page to download hundreds of songs, including JoAnna
James’ “Wake.”
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