J.V. is no amateur, despite her initials. I wondered what the big deal was about Jeni Varnadeau when a friend of mine drove the more than three-hour journey from Columbia, South Carolina to Atlanta, Georgia to see Jeni Varnadeau. Well, I'm beginning to understand this red-head's appeal. She has a free and sassy sound to her voice. The album alternates between emo-rock songs and ballads. The even-numbered tracks on this CD have a slower tempo but it is the faster-paced, odd-numbered tracks that catch my ear.
Varnadeau opens up with a song called "Mercy" reminiscent of Third Eye
Blind's song "Semi-Charmed Life," with its rhythmic guitars and vocals. Catchy, hummable choruses are centered around vocally driven melodies that melt into technically pleasing guitar bridges.
Here are some of my favorite lyrics: "I can't make it on my own, can't live all alone, I'm helpless by myself" ("I Need You"); "Free to laugh just a little longer, free to love like you want me to, Lord, take me to that place where I'm free to be free" ("Free to be Free"); and "If I believed with holy passion, I'd throw hesitation to the wind, if I would love you with abandon, my trust in you would never end ("If I Believed").
Varnadeau doesn't write her own music or play an instrument but collaborates with writers like Jimmie Lee Sloas and that dynamic brother duo of Christian music, John and Dino Elefante. Her vocals are of a surprisingly mainstream sound, considering she says she grew up in New Mexico listening mostly to Christian musicians. She said she has been especially influenced by the music of Charlie Peacock. This is Varnadeau's sophomore album, following her 1996 release Colors of Truth, also produced by Pamplin.
Despite her cutesy popular look, she definitely transcends bubble gum pop music, although she could stand to lean toward her more gutsy emo-rock sound on tracks like "I Need You." The song has some real guts and passion to it, as well as the tasty sound of heavily flanged metal guitars. I think it is the best song on the album and Varnadeau's most freewheeling break-away-from-pop vocal sound. I loved every odd numbered song on this CD; the others were O.K.
3 tocks
Other coverage for this album
HM Magazine #75Reviewed by Brian Vincent McGovernOne may not expect this name to be associated with rock & roll, and with many of these songs taking on a very radio-friendly format, you may even wonder why we reviewed it. But the rousing "I Need You" says it all, from the Hendrix-influenced guitar to the commercial rock chorus featuring Jeni's passionate full-lung singing. Songs like "There You Go" could even have been heard on a Petra record,…The Phantom Tollbooth 1998Reviewed by Corey WeltonWhen I first saw Jeni Varnadeau (then just "Jeni V") in 1994, I was a freshman in college; I met her after the show while buying the six-song EP that was on sale. After getting her bright purple autograph on the cover and spending some time talking to this very down-to-earth artist, I quickly became a fan of her music. Since then, it's been a privilege to see Varnadeau continue to mature as a…
