Jenny Gillespie: Press

"This album of 40 minutes is absolutely perfect, a bedside album so pleasant to listen to after a hard day. At once accessible and challenging . . . a perfectly balanced album . . . filled with memorable melodies. A debut full of promise!"

"Light Year displays much potential. It stands firmly as a solid testament to the natural talent of its creator, but even more so as the early imprint of a prepatent artist who could generate waves around the songwriting community in the years to come."

"Light Year evokes Day-Glo imagery and idyllic settings, pondered ever so sweetly through poetry and prose. She graces these fragile soundscapes with subtlety and flair, utilizing primarily piano and acoustic guitar, which are then tastefully embellished by bells, accordion, cello, fiddle, mandolin and pedal steel. Yet despite the richness of the arrangements, the songs never feel over-indulgent, radiating instead a shimmer, sparkle and gentle sway that’s ever so beautiful and beguiling. In fact, the entire set is so unerringly mesmerizing, it’s a challenge to distinguish a single standout, although “Vanishing Point,” “Littleblood,” and “Hummingbirds” certainly vie for that distinction. However, with the songs maintaining such low wattage, it may also be necessary to submit to more than a cursory listening – in fact, several may be required before true seduction sets in. Yet be assured that once its given those repeated encounters, Light Year will shine that much stronger."

"Beautiful songs with power and serenity... Like a beautiful velvet poster of unicorns."

"The album is short, but in a way similar to Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago, it works best that way. Light Year is strong from start to finish, presenting the listener with a blend of dark and light material, giving her audience just the right amount of breathing room from the dark moments that we become so absorbed in.

Light Year definitely has a darker tinge to it, but on my favorite track off the album, “Slow Clouds Break”, Gillespie changes up the mood a bit, bringing out the albums subtle sense of optimism. The production is fantastic, which is definitely seen all over the record, as it caters to the beautiful and detailed sound that Gillespie creates."

Jenny Gillespie is a soprano who takes a classical approach to her folkish music—and when I say that, I don't mean she apes Joni Mitchell or Judy Collins but instead injects a strong dose of chamber airs and fulsome arrangement, oft crafting an entire than assuming the role of the standard genre waif in a forest promenade. A bit of Annie Lennox's beautiful mists and fogs (a la Medusa) run through Light Year, as do the architectures of yesteryear symphonics such as we saw in the Left Banke, Peter & Gordon, Gerry & the Pacemakers, etc.

Gillespie bases in the piano but likes to add in cello, pedal steel, cajon, tabla, bells, and other exotica, so there's a 4AD element weaving things together. Her accompanists are particularly talented in adding haunting ambiances, Darwin Smith especially subtle in his colorations; without him, the cuts would be different creatures, still arcane and magisterial but not quite so fully fleshed.

Light Year shows a great deal of pensivity going on. At times, I was minded alternatingly of Harold Budd, the Cocteau Twins (albeit less shrill than them), Shelleyan Orphan, a narcotized Laura Nyro, Lisa Germano, and Tori Amos, all of whom sit high in my esteem. The level of gentle sophistication in Gillespie's compositions and arrangements approaches the baroque, so that the old and the new meet in happy, though sometimes morosely so, accord, satisfied that the hoary virtues of the past aren't being scamped while the solemn duties of the present are decorously attended and the future well vouchsafed. That is to say: Light Year possesses a timeless quality that's going to carry it very well indeed for some time to come.

"I got the sense she could fade into cult obscurity or make a huge name for herself."

"Dreamy yet challenging, Light Year, the third release from the Chicago based artist Jenny Gillespie is somewhere in-between folk and pop music, filled with touching songs. Great voice, playing and songwriting in these 40 minutes of musical bliss."

There’s an air of gorgeous melancholy to music of Jenny Gillespie, with Light Year offering eight mesmerizing melodies. The talented singer/songwriter channels Sinead O’Connor on “Hydra,” offering a heartbreaking voice complemented by stark piano, even as tunes like “New Maze” and “Hummingbirds” at times recall such legendary folksingers as Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell. It’s coffeehouse music that’s ready for the big time.

Chicago-based singer-songwriter Jenny Gillespie’s follow up to her 2004 EP Love and Ammunition is the floating, piano driven Light Year.

Like a Joni Mitchell record, it’s filled with delicate piano melodies and non-standard guitar tunings giving the songs a slightly off-kilter sound.

Still, she manages to make the eight songs work, tying them together with her gliding vocals that can jump from nearly spoken to ethereal.

Tunes like Vanishing Point, Nightmares and Appointments and Hummingbirds utilize abundant arrangements with Josh Stewart (bass, cello), Jenny Lee (violin), John Knecht (drums), Adam Ollendorff (pedal steel) and even some cajon, mandolin, glockenspiel and trumpet.

In contrast, Hydra seems sparse with just piano, upright bass, cello and atmospherics while Shells features only Jenny and an acoustic guitar.

If we had to pick a single, Slow Clouds Break would be the winner, with its uniquely-patterned verses and hopefully romantic lyrics.

"Debut albums sometimes can offer a false look at what's to come in the future from an artist, but for Jenny Gillespie it was just the opposite. She spent time to find herself musically before presenting this album to the public. This is a great album that offers a tranquil, relaxed quality to it that I think everyone can use at some point or another and is well worth a spin."

"Can the kind of music presented on Light Year really be dreamy yet electrifying at the same time? Take a listen to the soulful voice behind this album, Jenny Gillespie, and the answer will definitely be yes.

Giving a listen to this particular CD, one can also hear the influences of Joni Mitchell, Aimee Mann, and Rickie Lee Jones, among other women artists of the same genre. The lyrics are deep, dreamy, and poetic, the music innovative with the inclusion of horns, accordion, and strings blended in with the traditional musical instruments.

All eight tracks on Light Year expresses a wide range of emotions and senses from romantic and contemplative to sweet and spiritual. The album also has an overall pop-rock presentation, with each song peeling off a different layer from start to finish.

Jenny Gillespie does indeed stand out as a true artist on this album and it is certainly worth a second play in the CD player-if not more!"