Album Review: Mojo Juju - Seeing Red/Feeling Blue

Mojo Juju has always been a solo artist.

Even when she was fronting the seven-piece Snake Oil Merchants, her voice and craftsmanship was what shone through. Increasingly androgynous in both appearance and vocal presence, her style is no better exemplified than on Seeing Red/Feeling Blue’s opening track, Your Love. The bluesy, jazz-influenced pop song is an enchanting and relaxed doorway into an album that never sits still.

The histories of jazz and blues are never far from Juju’s heart here, yet her own voice and drive are what pushes this album beyond its influences. From the impossibly cool funk of Sugarcoated to the withdrawn, almost bossa nova-sounding Rain It Down, it’s Juju that holds it all together.

So often when artists cast a wide net, the results are a pleasant but scattershot collection of styles. In steeping her work in the tried and true songwriting languages of jazz, pop and blues-rock, Mojo Juju is able to avoid these pitfalls, while her voice and lyrical prowess keep everything standing as a conceptual piece. It’s in this way that the album should really be heard, for as strong and single-worthy as nearly every track here is, it’s the sum of the parts that is most remarkable. Those looking for entirely new sounds should go elsewhere; those in the mood for damned solid vocal jazz will find much to love here.