Sarah Jaffe "Bad Baby" LTD LP (2017)

Details: Sarah Jaffe "Bad Baby" released on Kirtland Records, limited edition translucent 140g orange vinyl, signed and numbered. New stock, sealed. Records are signed in the same area (bottom right corner) and numbered (out of 100).

Description: "Throughout her career, Texas singer-songwriter Sarah Jaffe has allowed her sound to expand and evolve in exciting ways. From the beginning, she's had a tremendous knack for heartsick ballads, but she's also grown increasingly adept at vibrant electro-pop that incorporates her career's detours into film scoring and even hip-hop. Jaffe's two most recent albums, 2012's The Body Wins and 2014's Don't Disconnect, showcase a fascination with science and machinery, with a futuristic sound to match. Now, on Bad Baby, she sounds as versatile as ever in songs that mix spiky synth-pop with softer, slower-burning reflections on the way human beings interact."--Stephen Thompson, NPR

"Weaving introspective themes of growth and change into an electropop landscape of ice and sun, Texan songstress Sarah Jaffe continues to evolve on the excellent Bad Baby, her fourth full-length release. It follows 2014's similarly toned Don't Disconnect, an album that seemed to cement her creative direction away from traditional acoustic-driven songwriting to a more sophisticated electronic approach. Her increased reliance on both studio experimentation and collaboration has gelled well with her material, yielding an intricate left-field sound that remains warmly accessible. Recorded in two weeks with co-producers Matt Pence and Scott Solter at Echo Lab near Denton, Texas, Bad Baby kicks off with "Synthetic Love," a slowly building Goldfrapp-reminiscent track of nearly seven minutes that demands some patience to absorb but ultimately sets up Jaffe's overall tone for the album. The 12 songs that follow toy with moods and melodies in an understated way that makes them easy on the ears but deceptively smart. Among the numerous standouts are the pink-clouded "Between," the hooky synth pop of the title cut, and the gentle and sunny "Manifestations," each one bearing subtle layers and enlightened inner musings. Jaffe's knack for slinky midtempo grooves manifests itself on "No Worries" and the excellent closer, "Shit Show," which is one of several tracks to feature some lovely string arrangements by composer/violinist Fiona Brice. Throughout it all, Jaffe seems more confident and in control than ever before, letting her spirit of musical discovery propel her forward while staying attuned to matters of the heart."--Timothy Monger, AllMusic

Grade: M (New stock)

TRACK LISTING SIDE A:

A1. Between
A2. No Worries
A3. Help Yourself
A4. Bad Baby
A5. Doctors Orders

TRACK LISTING SIDE B:

B1. This/That
B2. As Ever
B3. Not Dead
B4. Freaking Out
B5. Shit Show