It isn’t very often in mainstream pop that a singer/songwriter is willing to compete with an instrumental framing as oud as their vocal is, but you wouldn’t imagine as much just by listening to Brooke Josephson’s Showin’ Up. This player doesn’t just clash with melodies as grand as anything she’s ever performed against, but instead introduces us to a more focused sound on her part than a lot of listeners would have predicted ahead of Showin’ Up. Josephson has a diverse array of gifts for us to enjoy, but before this release, they just weren’t as obvious as they are here.
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The mood behind the verses in “Hangin’ up My Cape” isn’t rooted in the execution at the microphone alone but instead created out of the tension between the groove and the vocal. In using all of the residual harmonies in tracks like this one and “Love Me Like a Man,” Josephson is able to avoid sounding like she’s playing for the retro crowd here, while still utilizing quite the old school compositional structure for this material. Contrast wasn’t previously one of her strong suits, but it is in Showin’ Up, much like her use of hybrid melodies.
I definitely hear an underlying rock n’ roll aesthetic in “Rainbow” and the title track that is begging to come undone, and it just might if these songs are played with the same kind of intensity live as they were in the recording studio. Unlike a lot of the other tracks I’ve listened to produced in this era, Josephson isn’t trying to emphasize the isolation element implied by the lyrics – she’s emulating a live performance with each of these tracks, and implying a much greater presence than what most of her peers can muster up in the same setting.
When Brooke Josephson is crooning in “The Lesson,” she seems to let go of everything from the beat to the supporting melody, casting forth a harmony that stands on its own and eventually defines the purpose of the song. Her swagger is always suggested, but there’s simply no escaping it when she’s riding a rhythm as smoothly as she does on a track like this one. This is just an EP, a teaser if you will, but it often feels like the kind of watershed release most albums strive to be in ideal situations.
Showin’ Up is the full-bodied follow-up that I was hoping to hear post-Live and Let Live, and while it’s got a different set of compositional parameters than the average hybrid record in pop does, its greatest appeal comes from its rebellious concept as opposed to its familiar lead vocal. Josephson has become quite the sensuous singer, but she isn’t letting her voice stand as the lone reason why you should listen to what she has to say here. She’ll do whatever she has to in order to express something big to us, and if there was any doubt about her long-term credibility before this, it should be eliminated now.
Heather Savage