★★★★★
Jessica Lea Mayfield grew up touring in her Kent, Ohio family's bluegrass band before going solo. Black Keys' man Dan Auerbach produced her first two lauded albums, but this latest - recorded in Nashville - was the rocker's own work, and is gritty where 2011's 'Tell Me' was polished and nuanced. Mayfield plumps for a back-to-basics sound here: hubbie Jesse Newport on bass, Matt Martin on drums and Mayfield with boot-toe pressing a bank of distortion and FX pedals...
- www.nme.com
2014-06-02
★★★★★
April 17, 2014
Six years ago, Jessica Lea Mayfield was a precocious teenager singing simple, sullen country songs about hitting rock-bottom. On her third LP (and first without the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach producing), she's grown into a world-weary alt-rock dreamer. The set opens with the grungy "Oblivious" and its grown-up passive aggression: "I could kill her with the powers in my mind/But I'm a good humanitarian...
- www.rollingstone.com
2014-04-18
★★★★★
Jessica Lea Mayfield's third studio album follows 2011's Tell Me, which--like several of her earlier efforts--was produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach. Instead of building off the country-rock grandeur of previous outings, the 24-year-old singer-songwriter goes Auerbach-less and takes a fearless detour into electronic pop and '90s alternative rock. While the lovelorn energy of Mayfield's country ballads are often obfuscated by guitar fuzz, the new crunch fits her nicely.
- filtermagazine.com
2014-04-18
★★★★★
Jessica Lea Mayfield's third album opens with the loud, percussive crunch and grind of an electric guitar, thudding loudly and precipitously--definitely the most intrusive sound to creep its way into any of her songs. That opening volley of "Oblivious" sounds like a school bus falling into a ravine, or perhaps a piece of rusted machinery designed to cleave and separate this album from its predecessors in Mayfield's small catalog...
- pitchfork.com
2014-04-16
★★★★★
It's inspiring to hear Jessica Lea Mayfield, on her third album, continuing to push beyond her previous "moody alt-rock singer-songwriter" label. The Kent, Ohio, native is now the front-woman of a sludgy, buzzy, deep-bottomed rock power trio - as much Blue Cheer as Nirvana. She's come up with an exciting sound but her voice, softly introspective with a touch of resignation, sometimes gets swamped by the loudness...
- www.americansongwriter.com
2014-04-16
★★★★★
Jessica Lea Mayfield may be best known as the airy-voiced young protégé of garage rockers the Black Keys, but there's more grit to her than that. Despite her neo-country roots, her third LP makes clear that she knows her way around a Hole record (and might even have a copy of Dopesmoker tucked away somewhere, too). The piercing chords on opening track "Oblivious" jut out of a syrupy, messily distorted stoner doom riff, bass-heavy and sleepy-eyed...
- www.wonderingsound.com
2014-04-16
★★★★★
After cutting two albums with the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, singer, songwriter, and guitarist Jessica Lea Mayfield decided to go it alone for Make My Head Sing..., her ATO debut. While her previous offerings have been somewhat confessional singer/songwriter affairs that juxtaposed rootsy Americana and indie pop, this date moves in almost an entirely different direction. Co-produced with her husband, bassist Jesse Newport, the pair played everything except drums -- not that there's much else...
- www.allmusic.com
2014-04-24
★★★★★
JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD - Make My Head Sing...
Album:
Make My Head Sing....
Artist: Jessica Lea Mayfield
Label: ATO
Release Date: April 15, 2014
www.atorecords.com
BY LEE ZIMMERMAN
Jessica Lea Mayfield appears to dwell on the dark side, and if the title to her latest opus is to be believed, then her head is filled with ominous musings indeed. Make My Head Sing.....
- blurtonline.com
2014-04-16
★★★★★
From Jessica Lea Mayfield, it's safe to expect a major dose of personality, especially since her previous two albums were such emotionally wrought kaleidoscopes. With , the Ohio-based more-alt-than-country singer-songwriter ventures into new territory. Mayfield is self-assured this time around, but no happier; a distorted electric guitar is her weapon of choice and this sometimes messy, rough-around-the-edges record charms rather than pushes you away...
- exclaim.ca
2014-04-23
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