Sloppy Jane - “Jesus and Your Living Room Floor"

SXSW 2022 - OEB Score: 8; Popularity Index: 8

Pairs Well With…Cassandra Jenkins, Amanda Palmer, Big Thief

Sloppy Jane’s 2021 record Madison is a dramatic turn from the ultra-eclectic, lo-fi rock experimentations that covered her debut Willow, instead creating a cinematic pop record overflowing with ambition. A full orchestral “Overture” and “Epilogue” bookend Madison, a grand statement that sets the epic vibe that permeates throughout the album. Classic pop songwriting is married with lush instrumentation in bold strokes, deployed in both tender and bombastic ways often in the same track. There’s still darker, avant-garde energy that bolsters Madison, but instead merging those themes with post-punk grime, Sloppy Jane takes the opposite approach to hide hurt behind beauty. The result is equally stunning and hypnotic, sad and hopeful. The spacious (Madison was literally recorded in a cave), chamber-pop approach in which Sloppy Jane paints allows her lyricism to really stand out, often delivered in an understated whisper that can break out in rich melody during a song’s building coda. (Kevin McStravick)