Jessie Torrisi - brûler brûler

Jessi Tor­risi
brûler brûler
Self-​Released; 2009

Guest Con­trib­u­tor: Jen Broadwell

A debut solo effort enti­tled brûler brûler has made a front­woman out of New York native folk singer, Jessie Tor­risi. For­merly a rock drum­mer for mul­ti­ple New York City bands, Tor­risi recently relo­cated to Austin, TX to go it alone. She has a daz­zling alto range and, with the vocals under­way in her song “Hun­gry Like Me,” I was reminded of Cat Power’s “Sil­ver Stal­lion.” Other songs, such as “Can­non­ball,” exhibit a sen­si­tiv­ity to jazz, as that is often an ori­en­ta­tion for a deep or raspy vocal.

Most of these songs refer, lyri­cally, to rela­tion­ships. In “Hun­gry Like Me,” she seems to be voic­ing her desire for some­one who will match her spon­ta­neous, go-​getter approach in search of her pas­sions. “I need some­body who will jump a train/​I don’t need another man who only takes me half way/​I wanna ride into the dawn/​I will go any­where for what I’m crav­ing.” Fur­ther­more, the phrase “hun­gry like me” is empha­sized through rep­e­ti­tion in a short acoustic break­down, fol­lowed by a resumed series of in-​unison hand-​claps.

The trom­bone is an inte­gral part of the song “X in teXas.” A slow upright bass pick is also promi­nent here. This song rep­re­sents the ter­mi­na­tion of a rela­tion­ship where, clearly and clev­erly, the “x” refers to ‘ex.” Sit tight and you’ll also catch the grav­ity of the “low in low­down” and the “o in over.”

An occa­sional cello crescendo and two acoustic fin­ger pick­ers, com­bined with one high-​strung instru­ment that incor­po­rates a few hammer-​ons and another har­mony picker all help to tell Torrisi’s story of loss in the song “Breeze in Car­olina.” She ques­tions, “How can the breeze in Car­olina be sweater than my love?” A sim­i­lar strug­gle to retain one’s lover is illus­trated in “So Many Miles,” where, after all her invested energy, she explains that she does not want to see every­thing fall apart. Unlike “Breeze in Car­olina” and other slower nar­ra­tives, such as “Storm Clouds” and “The Brighter Side,” “So Many Miles” is an upbeat track, sim­i­lar to “Hun­gry Like Me.”

“The Brighter Side” serves as a beau­ti­ful end­ing to this tune­ful account of waver­ing emo­tions. The won­der­ful piano-​based bal­lad is reflec­tive of all she’s expe­ri­enced, as she informs us that she has come out on the other, brighter, side.

Over­all, the plethora of instru­ments on hand for this record, com­bined with Torrisi’s cap­ti­vat­ing vocal finesse and influ­ence from New Orleans jazz and New York City indie rock, have cul­mi­nated into a fresh and plea­sur­able pre­sen­ta­tion. In addi­tion, brûler brûler seems to have made a good first impres­sion in Austin, as she has already found her­self at the cen­ter of the city’s music scene, per­form­ing shows at Momo’s, The Saxon Pub, and La Zona Rosa.

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Jen Broad­well is a music blog­ger from Hous­ton, TX who runs the site Music Artiste. She enjoys attend­ing local show and writ­ing scene reviews and inter­views. She also enjoys indie fes­ti­vals and national indie shows and often posts her thoughts on such events, along with new music videos. Since her hobby doesn’t pay the bills. she works for the Uni­ver­sity of Hous­ton in Development.