Originally published in The Aquarian Weekly

April 9, 2008

Jaymay

Autumn Fallin’

Blue Note Records

I read somewhere that Jamie Seerman’s

music is something called “anti-folk.” I don’t

know what that means, so I looked it up on

Wikipedia. I still don’t know what it means,

but at least now I know who does it: Beck,

Regina Spektor, Nellie McKay, Kimya Dawson,

and Jeff Buckley are among those who have

practiced anti-folk at one time or another.

Seerman (aka Jaymay) is a 26- year-old

singer-songwriter, originally from Long Island,

now living in the U.K. She uses the occasion

of her first full-length album to detail, and I do

mean detail, a New York City relationship, as

it plays out over the course of a bitter winter.

Jamay’s greatest asset as a songwriter is her

power of observation. She seems to make a

permanent record of everything that is going

on around her.

From the discovery of new love on the

opening track “Gray Or Blue,” through the

romantic ecstasy of “Blue Skies,” to the

heartbroken finale “You Are The One I Love,”

Jaymay uses vivid brushstrokes to capture

the course of a lost relationship. She immerses

the listener in an array of emotions on this

journey. Some will readily take the trip with

her. I was more ambivalent.

The question is whether there is anything

special here. There are a lot of folk, and

apparently anti-folk singers around these

days. I’ve heard many talented songwriters

plying the clubs of Jersey. I give Jaymay credit

for taking on this ambitious song cycle, and

I look forward to hearing what she does next.

In A Word: Picturesque

Grade: B

—by Ken Shane