Lissie – Why You Runnin’

Lissie’s music is hard to categorize, which, I suppose, is part of the allure. While firmly keeping a foot in the Americana realm, where it wanders from there is open to speculation. She blurs the lines with elements of country, twang, acoustic, traditional and AAA. She hails from Rock Island, IL and made the mandated singer/songwriter transition to CA. She spent time in a band called White Rabbit, but it wasn’t until a brief opening jaunt with Lenny Kravitz did she start to make her own mark. You also may have heard her voice on the 2008 dance hit “The Longest Road” by Morgan Page. Okay, so she’s already used her mulligan.

Why You Runnin’ is Lissie’s debut EP. Despite the somewhat rustic references of the opening “Little Lovin,” the structure is not that far off of any pop song you would hear. Her repetition of the title phrase, “Why you runnin’?” serves as a bridge for a tempo change. Amidst a shower of whoas and handclaps, the song blossoms into a solid groove. After a few listens, the chorus becomes stuck in your head.

The vocals of “Wedding Bells” sound like they were laid down in the church of Band of Horses. This shouldn’t come as a surprise since BoH’s Bill Reynolds produced four of the EP’s five tunes. (Reynolds guests on some cuts, as well as BoH’s guitarist Tyler Ramsey.) She covers this Hank Williams tune at a slow pace; the only percussion is handclaps. Disjointed backing vocals dot the song alongside the acoustic guitar. It works fine as a jilted lover song, but begs the eternal question: why does the jilted lover always live within earshot of the damn chapel bells?

Her voice, at varying times, can sound like anyone from a ’70s era folkie to such underrated talents like Karen Peris (of The Innocence Mission). A lot of times I found myself thinking, “Damn, she sounds just like…” but being unable to find the right names to finish the thought. Her voice is featured front and center in all the songs. On “Here Before” her voice, through layers and reverb, becomes the main instrument. For a good 90 seconds, the song is nothing but Lissie singing over her layered backing vocals. The effect is both eerie and soothing at the same time.

Much of the EP is earthy and organic. Instrumentation is rarely anything more than guitars, piano, voice and light percussion – all given a healthy dose of reverb. While a short ride, the five songs each feature a bit of a different vibe. The first two songs work as more middle America type numbers. The remaining three wander out from there. It should be fitting then that the packaging is just as simple as the music itself. A picture of the sun over the mountain on the front, and a faded shot of Lissie wearing a flannel (Did you expect anything else?) on the back. It would be nice to get the lyrics (or at least a link to them) to really appreciate the piece.

In the end, the EP does what good EPs should do. It gives you a few different flavors, and a tease of just what may lie ahead. The EP opens up okay, but gets better as it goes through. It might take a spin or two (as it took me), but after that, a ‘click’ goes off. What stands out most for Lissie is not the good or bad of the EP, it’s the potential that lies ahead.

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Tagged as: Americana

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