Shop our Big Takeover store for back issues, t-shirts & CDs
Follow The Big Takeover
Mascott’s heavenly-voiced Kendall Jane Meade is a 20-year veteran of NYC’s indie pop scene, going back to her 1990’s stint fronting alt-rockers Juicy, and various backup gigs with Sparklehorse, Helium, Lloyd Cole, and The Spinanes. Since forming this folk-pop “musical alter-ego” in 1998, she’s released three albums, the last two on her own label, Red Panda. (In a twist, she put out Kiam label head Jennifer O’Connor’s 2005 second LP The Color and the Light; O’Connor returns the favor here!) But aside from a 2010 digital single with Guided By Voices/Nada Surf guitar maestro Doug Gillard, “Please Please Please,” this is her first release as Mascott since 2008’s Art Project (though she did record an LP of duets earlier this year called Wild Chorus with Varnaline’s Anders Parker, billed as Anders & Kendall).
In addition to O’Connor, returning Mascotters like Sharon Van Etten’s Doug Keith and Ben Lord, Joan as Policewoman’s Rainy Orteca, Craig Chin, and Belle & Sebastian/Cat Power/Portastatic’s Margaret White provide light yet luminous backing. Meade’s always sounded pretty and ethereal, but on Cost/Amount she exudes a confidence only hinted at on previous LPs. As well, owing to her transition out of a full-time job in fashion to concentrate on music, her songwriting feels freshened and focused. On the sparkling, chugging title track, she recalls a cross between her Kiam labelmate Amy Bezunartea (who makes a cameo in the song’s video) and Juliana Hatfield, sealing the deal with an exuberant chorus. The uplifting, resonant standout “Our Life” (co-written with O’Connor) evokes the melody from The Pogues/Kirsty MacColl’s “Fairytale of New York,” while on the Beatles-esque “By the Book” she trills sweetly over a “Strawberry Fields Forever”-like keyboard.
To further the MacColl comparisons, Meade covers her 1979 “They Don’t Know” (turned into a #8 US hit in 1983 by TV star/comedian Tracey Ullman, thanks to her smash MTV video). But her acoustic version is no throwaway, instead converting its 1960’s Phil Spector/girl-group style into a lovely, lullaby-like lament. In all, Mascott’s soothing, alluring music is an ideal remedy for the encroaching winter doldrums.
