I know I'm probably wasting time with this, but does anyone remember this lovely lady? Funny that, because I only reviewed Dirty Little Secret (July 2010) last month as you can see and yet there is this big discussion going on in the Critics Corner forum about the lack of female musicians asking for reviews. Welp, I guess my Soundclick friends need to get out some more because there are a great many talented females out there, God knows I've found a few in my time. Maddie is a Welsh lass, from South Wales in fact, an area - as I mentioned in my last review - full of music history. Dirty Little Secret showed me that Maddie has it in recorded sound (this being a track from her new EP, properly recorded and with a band) but what about her normal environment; acoustic and/or unplugged?

Now, funny you should ask that...

I mentioned in that review that the tune wasn't really what I expected from her, and surprisingly enough, this one is. What impressed me most about Dirty Little Secret is that it was an excellent song and right in the modern groove too. It showed that Maddie has a voice that demands interest but, to me anyway no matter how much I liked it, it didn't put across the real quality of the woman, if you know what I mean. Green and Blue does though, and much more besides. I knew from the opening chords that this was going to be a bit special and that impression has grown with every playing. See, Maddie is a live, gigging musician and what I expected to hear was what she sounded like live - and this is it and its just gorgeous.

It takes a very great deal to make an impact with a guitar, a voice and a song. You got to be pretty good (and talented) to be able to pull it off successfully. OK, having said that, go and take a listen to this track and you tell me whether Maddie does that or not because I'm convinced. Listen, this is the kind of voice that sends shivers down your spine, what is not to like? Much more to the point, she's a very decent guitarist too, accompanying herself admirably. There is a video of the song here at a festival somewhere with stand up bass accompaniment that suits it just as well. For quality though, listen to the track on either of her sites and hear a budding diva in action. Beautiful.

MUST HAVE Acoustic song.

I started off this month with Eject Pilot Eject, a three piece band from South Wales, and now here comes Ms Maddie Jones - also from South Wales. She heard about me, apparently through Steff Adams whose excellent and highly recommended Blue Pathways CD (April 2010) lit up the early part of the year. Steff, as you may have gathered, is also a member of the South Wales musical mafia (or is that taffia?). Actually, as I said in EPE's review, all of these people are treading in very familiar footsteps because this area of Wales (Cardiff and its immediate vicinity) throwing up stars as diverse as Dame Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Shakin' Stevens and - from a modern perspective - Manic Street Preachers, Super Furry Animals, and Bullet for My Valentine. So, knowing all this, I know that no musician from this part of the world can be taken lightly, an area with a strong musical history is a hard nut to crack.

Dirty Little Secret is a track from Maddie's 6 track EP Let It Out recorded with The Jones O'Connor Group and that's about it as far as general information goes, Maddie won ViperMusic's 'Songwriter' Competition and Dirty Little Secret will go some way to show why she did. Not at all what I was expecting, but I'm not sure now what I was expecting from Maddie. What I got was a VERY polished performance, a nice spine tingling vocal style and, the highlight for me, an incredible arrangement of an excellent song. All of which, I might add, will make you work for your money to take it all in and that's good because this is most definitely a track you will grow into.

Most of the credit for that has to go to Maddie's songwriting talent, although it has to be said that the band are no slouches either. The backing track they supply is tasteful without being ornate, and perfectly fits the style and delivery of the song. It is the content and texture of the song that got to me though, and that doesn't happen often enough. The main reason you will have to give this track some time is because it's an intelligent song, full of nuance and detail that only surfaces over time (like the little echo overhang on the vocals for example, a lovely touch), as well as being musically adventurous in a way I found very refreshing. Definitely worth checking out.

Highly Recommended intelligent rock.

How would you describe your music and what has been your biggest influence? I want to know this even though you refuse to divulge on your website.

I think describing your own music is one of the hardest things for an artist to do, which is probably the reason for all the nonsensical genres that people invent to get around the fact that they don’t really fit into an existing one! My music is influenced to varying degrees by pretty much everything I’ve ever come across, and so including rock, jazz, classical, folk and so on. I try to make each song I write different to the others, to keep myself entertained as much as anything else. It’s one of the thing’s I love about Queen’s back catalogue. As a result, I think you can hear certain influences more strongly in certain songs – for instance, the jazz harmony in ‘Green and Blue’. Influences, I suppose, also include things that aren’t immediately apparent in songwriting -  I adore the vocal power and live showmanship of Freddie Mercury, Etta James, Alanis Morissette and so many others. Lyrics also open up a whole new universe of influences, which for me include The Beatles, Muse, etc. (who I also love the music aspect of). I find it so hard to sum it up…I love so many bands, artists and composers, I’ve tried to just name a few absolute favourites. I can’t give a short coherent answer – so I’ll just say everything – I’m influenced by everything.

Have you any releases coming out soon?

Yes, I’ve just finished recording an E.P of six of my songs called ‘Let It Out’. It’ll be available on CD and digitally (through iTunes etc.) very, very soon! There’ll be details shortly on my websites.

How important is playing live to you?

I think that playing live probably captures the essence of what I’m trying to do better than recording, at least from my point of view. When I record, I have to pretend that it’s live so that the feeling is there: playing off an audience can completely change your sound. I manage that by recording in pitch darkness, oddly!  I don’t think I could ever be solely a recording artist though – the real kicks come from gigging.

Which Internet site gets your music message out the best - ReverbNation, MySpace or another?

I have my own website, but I use MySpace, Reverbnation, Facebook and Twitter as well. It takes quite a lot of effort to maximize the potential of each so I tend to concentrate on different ones for different purposes: Facebook for communicating with the people I know, MySpace for finding contacts, venues etc, and the music player. Reverbnation is great for the fanlist e-mails, and fan exclusive tracks.

I really love your demo tracks. Where do you get the ideas from and how long does it take to write a song.?

Cheers! The ideas for my songs are, lyrically at least, drawn from life. They have to be or I wouldn’t be able to sing them with conviction. As I said, musically, they’re a kind of mish mash of everything that I listen to. I’m never too explicit about what the songs represent or mean, because I think it’s important that, whilst they may mean one specific thing to mean, they could mean something different to someone else. I like to keep it vague, and let people draw their own conclusions. As for how long they take…I never sit down and take hours to write a song. It starts with a mood, and then the lyrics stem from that and the music usually happens at the same time, or I fit a musical idea I’ve had already to the lyrics. It can mean that lyrics and music don’t end up being in the same ‘style’, but I actually do that very consciously. For instance, the lyrics to ‘Green and Blue’ are actually really depressing, and I think they’re made more so by the light-hearted music. I’m very keen on the great jazz singers too – like Billie Holiday, I think maybe that song reflects that aspect of my tastes.

 

Review by Peter Bright (of the band This Window and SystemCulture.org


There are hundreds of singer songwriters, who strum a guitar, sing out of tune and sound crap. From the first discordant chord to the last flat note, you want to dive under the table and cringe. There are those people who subscribe to the X Factor viewpoint and find the humiliation of untalented people as good sport, personally I find it a cheap trick. Artists (and wannabees) who place their music on line also run the risk of being laughed at and ridiculed. The talentless remain untalented and the creative and gifted, hopefully succeed.

Maddie Jones need not worry, her songs are lyrically strong and her voice has enough colour and warmth to fill in the whole picture. Empty/Full (Demo)' and 'Dirty Little Secret' - listen to the words... isn't love a tough cookie.

All the tracks are recorded in a rough and ready style, which makes them honest and truthful - excellent.

 

Maddie appears on Episode 3 of Season 3 of the podcast promoting unsigned talent. Listen to the interview and 2 live tracks at unsignedfinds.podomatic.com