Elysian Fields

Bleed You Cedar (Radioactive)
by Lex Marburger

Seductive. Sultry. Dripping with sex. Jennifer Charles, singer for Elysian Fields, has a voice that makes any innuendo, no matter how small, burst into flames of barely hidden lust. Not to mention when she says things like “Let me be your salt lick/wet lap wet lick dream.” I first heard her on two tracks on Firewater’s album, almost upstaging the drunken lounge music by adding sensual, voluptuous vocals and wrapping them around Tod A.’s hoarse voice. Taking a torch song tempo, Bleed Your Cedar drips easily along, rolling the listener into a slow burning ball of lust. Jennifer’s husky Lauren Bacall voice delivers eerie grace along the dark seductive paths of songs like “Lady In The Lake,” and “Off Or Out” (“Can’t get you off… or out of my head” she croons). Her band aren’t a bunch of slackers, either. They save the songs, dangerously close to crossing the line from elegant to cheesy, by adding elements that move the listener into different areas. “Off Or Out” has a sitar droning in the background, while on the song “Anything You Like,” Oren Bloedow plays a guitar solo over a mellow bass groove that sounds like it came straight from Bill Frisell’s fingers, twisting the tune into sonic origami, disregarding ordinary tonality and creating amazing patterns and lines. What gives Bleed Your Cedar its appeal and staying power (it’s been in my CD player for weeks) is the relaxed nature of the music and the ease of Jennifer’s enticing vocals. She’s not necessarily trying to sound bewitching, it seems to come naturally, like the voice of a jilted lover after drinking too many bourbon sours and smoking too many cigarettes, talking to no one in particular about her faded lover in terms both longing and passionate. Think candlelight, think a strong drink, think about the one who left you when you listen to Bleed Your Cedar.