As implausible as it may seem, the most formidable obstacle for Ginny Owens may very well be her own success. Whether she would admit it or not, the three Number One singles, over 250,000 units sold and near universal critical acclaim garnered by her debut and sophomore records, 1999's Without Condition and 2001's Something More, have undoubtedly set an imposingly high benchmark for all that would follow. Fortunately for all concerned, Blueprint, the new eight-song EP featuring acoustic versions of seven songs from Owens' first two releases, together with one new track, shows the artist well up to the task of matching her previous high water marks.
Songs like "With Me" and the lead-off track, "Free," replace the underlying syncopation of the originals with more laid-back, jazz-club-at-quitting-time inflection that fits the new versions equally well. "I Am" and the equally shimmering "Something More" are propelled by a similarly jazzy and animated groove that Owens handles most adeptly, while the solemn and moving "I Am Nothing" opts for the austere, straight-ahead rhythms that so well suited its plugged-in precursor. All in all, the new arrangements suit Owens' songs very nicely, offering a slightly brighter, more intimate tonal quality than their electrified counterparts and serving to highlight Owens' estimable and expressive voice which fares exceptionally against the additional scrutiny that the unplugged medium affords.
While the opening five-song section ranks as strong as any in recent memory, follow-on tracks like "True Story," "Run to You" and the pleasant, if slightly nondescript, new entry, "Let Them Hear" fall just shy of matching the immediacy and infectiousness that propelled the first two thirds of the album. Likewise, the more subdued character of the latter songs instills Owens' latest outing with a more pronounced sense of ebb and flow than its predecessors. That said, though, all three of the abovementioned compositions are still buoyed by their author's thought-provoking, and highly literate, lyrical approach, and any one of them would probably work well as a radio single. And, to be fair, the Blueprint project more than makes up for in continuity what it sacrifices in momentum.
One might understandably argue that the new record's truncated length and inclusion of previously released material relegate it to the nice-but-not-necessary category, particularly for those who already own Owens' other two albums. Its less-than-essential status notwithstanding, the EP nonetheless offers an interesting, and solidly-performed, second look at Owens' back catalog for current fans, an ideal entry point into the artist's work for first-time listeners, and irrefutable proof to would-be skeptics and holdouts that the ongoing critical and commercial buzz surrounding Ginny Owens is, indeed, very much deserved.
3.5 tocks
