Jhelisa – Language Electric

Jhelisa hits it out of the park with her second album, LANGUAGE ELECTRIC. No longer saddled with the limiting "acid jazz" tag (instead opting for the more traditional jazz on "Story of a Musician's Madness"), Jhelisa explores darker and more personal territory here. The title track blends a scratchy electric guitar with a funky bassline, but it's Jhelisa's own vocals that come clear each time. The aching beauty and piercing lyrics (about spousal abuse)of "Freedom from Pity" make the track seem authentically heartfelt. The same goes for the acoustic ballad about incest, "That's Bullshit Woody." On the flip side, the bracing harshness of "Sell Me Away" matches its equally disturbing subject matter -- the selling of child brides. The paranoid tell-off of "Everybody Jump Off" shows off the dark side of loneliness. The album is as diverse as it is personal: the classical string quartet instrumental "Bete Noire" manages not to sound contrived because it embodies Jhelisa's own eclectic nature. And that nature comes through loud and clear as her voice.