JORDAN HURWITZ – Here I’ll Stand

Tarpan 2015

JORDAN HURWITZ –
Here I’ll Stand

Third offering from Californian teenager measures up her songwriting maturity as overseen by man who produced Aretha and Whitney.

Another youngster in the acclaimed drummer’s stable, Narada Michael Walden doesn’t have to exert a lot of effort for the 18-year-old Hurwitz whose songs possess the kind of naturalness that’s hardly needs much embellishment. Tailoring them to the order of the day, Jordan bends her country inflections to a pop shape, not unlike Shania Twain, but doesn’t play the “innocence vs. experience” card in the way the singers her age so irritatingly do. That’s where “Simplicity” kicks in unhurriedly, yet with a spark, while “Not Going Home” picks up where Carole King’s “I Feel The Earth Move” left off and gets to the dancefloor – catch the boogie down in the mix in the middle of the piece and groove to it.

But if orchestral uplift is very subtle in the soulful ballad “So Very Small,” the life-afirming chorus of “Get Free” shoots high from its piano-led verse with a dose of funk, and the effervescent “I’m Ready” has a rock bearings to it. And this stance defines the title track’s polyphonic vibrancy which rides a righteous self-glorification so suitable for the young artist who wears a fine promise around her neck. Standing her ground doesn’t mean Hurwitz won’t move the earth.

****1/3

June 15, 2015