Song Up in Her Head
Song Up in Her Head immediately establishes Sarah Jarosz as a singer, writer and musician. Her mandolin and banjo can attract attention through speed, but the songs offer more. She connects older acoustic forms with a personal approach. The voice is clear while carrying enough force and roughness to give the music character.
Tell Me True sounds familiar, almost as though it has existed for years, although it is her own composition. Banjo gives the song a pleasing older movement. The melody is strong enough to stand without elaborate decoration. It shows Jarosz using tradition without merely repeating existing examples.
The instrumentals have a place of their own. On Mansinneedof, her mandolin works closely with Mike Marshall's. The parts are complex, but the melody stays accessible. Technique adds pleasure rather than creating distance.
The covers widen the sound too. Come On Up To The House, by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, receives a bluesy gospel treatment. It sounds confident and loose. The Decemberists' Shankill Butchers instead chooses an oppressive atmosphere. Its almost storybook delivery makes the subject more unsettling rather than gentler.
Not every departure is equally strong. On the piano ballad Long Journey, her voice has less natural support than it does among the string instruments. The record regains its conviction on the small closing Little Song, with Jarosz on guitar and Chris Thile as her duet partner.
These differences give the debut breadth without losing cohesion. Jarosz need not keep proving her talent. Its strongest passages instead show how much a memorable melody and well-chosen setting can achieve. Song Up in Her Head consequently works above all as a collection of strong, engaged songs.
