Jana Hunter

In a time of manufactured beauty, Jana Hunter stands out as a champion of homegrown Texas lo-fi. Her initial success has been, for the most part, due to her earlier releases with the hairy godfather of the “freak-folk” genre–Devendra Banhart. But she shouldn’t be confused, despite her associations, as being like Banhart–whose sound is a bit more free-wheeling. You know, the type of stuff you might want to dance to after kicking back a few over the weekend

Jana Hunters music, in polar contrast, is stripped down of many of the acoustical pony tricks and slowed to the point of a lamenting drawl. The barren and haunting feelings produced by the songs of her first full length album Blank Unstaring Heirs of Doom, are further emphasized by her hesitant and meek approach to the songs themselves. This album was mostly recorded in a variety of fidelities–from cassette tapes to laptops. She simply recorded on whatever was handy when inspiration hit. Her second and more recent album titled There’s No Home, is recorded in a more professional setting and introduces a much more confident artist in terms of the songs and their presentation. However, I still have trouble deciding which style of hers I’m more keen to.

This all to say… I think she’s pretty spectacular. I hope you do too. Check her out.

Josh.