Chords of color, palette of sounds
Published 4:00 pm Friday, June 25, 2004
Singer/songwriter Jean Mann looks to both music and painting for creative expression.
Jean Mann is shy, but her music isn’t.
The Seattle-based songster – a familiar artistic presence here for her pastels and glass lamps, as well as her music – says she must overcome stage fright each time she sings, but has no qualms about opening her life to scrutiny in her self-revealing songs.
“The challenge of performing in front of people is a big one for me,” Mann said. “It’s interesting, because the lyrics are personal and putting myself out there that way, that’s my gift.”
Mann delivers her original material with a voice that’s been compared to a cross between Joni Mitchell and Edith Piaf – although she cites as influences like contemporary folk artists like Neil Young, Bonnie Raitt, Jeff Buckley and Nick Drake.
A self-trained musician, Mann finds a new composition by strumming desultory chords until a musical phrase catches her attention. She may find lyrics on the spot, capturing the new song on tape.
Her style, which she dubs “alternafolk” ranges from the driving beat of “The Dance,” to the haunting “In the World,” written in the wake of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and intended to be an upbeat personal statement in the bleak aftermath of the terrorist attacks.
“We need to look at things with a peaceful and hopeful eye,” she said. “That’s all we can do.”
The lyrics reflect that message:
“You’re not alone in the world,
though you feel at times well so does every one else
when you really come down to it.
Well I’ll admit, some days it’s harder than others
to get out of bed and face the day.
It’s always easier for me when the sun shines bright
and the sparkles lay across the water.
Hey, I figure if they can dance so, just think what I can do with the day.
One day you’ll look around at what you’ve done for yourself,
and you’ll see you did what you could, and you should be proud, so proud.”
In contrast, “The Dance,” penned in just five minutes, turned into an impromptu collaboration about the joy of moving to music.
“My mandolinist lived next door at the time, so I called him as soon as the song came to me,” she said. “He turned it into a gypsy song.”
Now when she performs “The Dance,” Mann scans her audience to enjoy the sight of listeners swaying in time to the music.
“I look out into the audience and men, in particular, are swaying side to side. I never wrote a song, before, that did that to people.”
Mann took up the guitar seven years ago, but didn’t start composing until her mother’s terminal illness in 2001.
While the songs she wrote weren’t directly about her mother’s imminent death, her creative impulse was triggered by the trauma, she says.
“The death of my mother brought an experience I didn’t have an outlet for,” she said. “The art started at the same time. I’ve been exploding with creativity.”
Choosing to emphasize her creative side would have pleased the mother, who, Mann says, had always championed her daughter’s artistic pursuits.
The two media – music and visual art – have served distinct purposes, Mann says.
“The art was a way to focus on something else, a positive distraction,” she said. “The music helps me get out the feelings of what was challenging me.”
But both creative expressions must flow from deep within to touch an audience, Mann believes.
“When the door (to creativity) is open, then the expression feels very natural,” she said, “and that’s the only way I can be, I realize: totally myself.”
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Musician and visual artist Jean Mann returns to the island to perform 7:30 p.m. June 26 at Pegasus Coffee House. Her pastel drawings and her glass lamps will be on view at the show. A $4 donation is suggested. Information: 842-6725.
