From 'Where has this diva been hiding?' to 'What happened to Jane Child?!'. I ask the second question not in reference to the wild cover artwork pictured above, but rather, in reference to what had become of her music career following the release of 1993's "Here Not There". I've wondered that for a while; something else I need to read into, as it would help explain the near ten-year absence between album releases before her 'resurgence' with 2001's "Surge". Glad Kim requested this one, too, because just like "Here Not There", "Surge" has become quite a rarity. Had my first ever listen to this one tonight as well. A little less 'alternative' in sound to "Here Not There", but it's still there—both musically and figuratively again, too, because the songs 'alternate' from the alternative rock sound to something that resembles contemporary dance-pop music, but could still be classified as rock. So many genres and sub-genres I could conjure up for this style of music; perhaps it would be best if I just simply labeled it as 'Jane Child music'. Really, I don't even know what to call it; as long as the loud, powerful voice and the wild attitude is there, it's great music. Her voice, however, is nearly unrecognizable on the opening track, "Almost Beautiful", with all of the digitizing and synthesizing happening, though there's something about the dance beat that's extremely likeable and makes you want to move to it. "You Bluebird" is a definitely a great dance tune! I fell in love with it only a few seconds into it. Brings back all of that good funkiness from her breakout hit, "Don't Wanna Fall In Love"....and warm memories of those old 8-bit Ninetndo games thanks to the synthesizing. Think that "The Willow Tree" is gonna be one of those nice, ambient numbers with the natural sound effects and the ethereal soundscapes, right? Well, it begins that way, then suddenly, keeping with the theme of this album, there's a 'surge' of hard-edge rock that makes you forget about trees and flowers and animals and just all living things altogether. But like so many of Jane's songs with the high intensity and the gritty vocals, "The Willow Tree" is another standout performance. Ain't nothing sweet about "Honeymine", and she isn't singing about bumblebees and beeswax either, but it complements "The Willow Tree" as the second standout performance on this album. Then completing those two is "Yellow Days", which contains some of the best lyrics on this album. That amazing gritty voice of hers becomes digitized again here like it did on "Almost Beautiful", and at times sounds like a screeching growl as if she was some ravenous jaguar or panther attacking its prey. This revitalized Jane Child is so awesome, and I hope there will be another 'resurgence' of her music very soon:
1. Almost Beautiful
2. You Bluebird
3. Words I Know
4. Lootville
5. Nice Day
6. The Willow Tree
7. Honeymine
8. Ramona My Love
9. Yellow Days
10. Feverush
11. Sworn
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