If there is one thing that Sarah Jaffe will never have to contend with it is the idea that she is a female singer for females. There was once a time that being a female singer meant you would undoubtedly be put into an all too snug box. Is she an angry singer? An activist singer? A singer for the victims or the singer your mom bonds with you over? To be honest, when Sarah’s new CD Suburban Nature was released on May 18th she inserted herself into and destroyed all those boxes simultaneously, because Sarah is a truth singer …and no matter who or what we are, we all need, and want, our singers to be truth singers.
Jaffe’s words and voice seam like they are speaking to you, only to you, yet they contain a universal appeal evidenced by the fact that she’s recently toured with Midlake and Norah Jones. Two completely different audiences whom Jaffe, equally endearing and confident, easily won over.
Growing up in Red Oak, Texas might not be ideal circumstances for breeding the kind of talent that is encompassed in Sarah’s songs, but it does beg the question of nature verses nurture. What we have in us before we are even us, and what we interpret because of life circumstances. Writing since her early teens, many of the songs featured on Suburban Nature were written long before she could even enter the clubs were they are now performed.
Interestingly enough the first single “Vulnerable,” was written when Sarah was only 17, long before even the material on her first EP, the acclaimed Even Born Again, was produced. Even so, it comprises everything that matters about her voice. If there is one thread that flows through all of Sarah’s work, it is grappling with the self-serving cycles that are in all of us, and the aftermath that those needs deal out. “I’m a fan of life’s wicked ironies. These things that reveal the truth from an aerial view nowhere near your perspective of the situation, and through these realizations you find redemption.” And so it is with Suburban Nature.
Since the release of Suburban Nature, Sarah has toured constantly, hitting both Europe and the US with Midlake, as well as supporting such varied artists as Norah Jones, Lou Barlow, Centro-matic and Old 97s. “Clementine” Sarah’s debut single reached the #1 spot at various radio stations including Austin’s influential KGSR and Sirus’ Spectrum. Sarah and Suburban Nature landed in many 2010 “Best of Lists” including: Paste Magazine’s 10 Best New Solo Artists, 50 Best Albums, and 50 Best Songs; Amazon.com’s Best Albums and Song’s; USA Today’s Pop Candy 100 People of 2010.