Jenny Owen Youngs melts faces

By Erin Lyndal Martin
Published: May 26th, 2009 | 7:00am

Jenny Owen Youngs already knows what she'll say when she's 70. The 25-year-old singer-songwriter plans to say she's spent her life "mostly just melting faces. Successfully. For a long time. A lot of faces." Her success with face-melting began with her 2005 debut album, Batten the Hatches, and continues on Transmitter Failure (Nettwerk) — though it has a different sound now.

While Batten the Hatches had gritty numbers like "Fuck Was I" (featured in Weeds), Transmitter Failure is more interested in melodies and complex layers. Youngs attributes the change in her approach to her listening habits. "I was listening to a lot more people who are musicians because they want to speak-sing their poetry. That kind of aesthetic used to appeal to me. But this record was definitely made under the influence of much more musical records.” Ultimately, she states, “I feel like the melodies are just more melodic."

The proof is in the listening; Transmitter Failure seamlessly deploys disparate melodies and musical styles — there are songs fit for waltzing and line-dancing alike — all while creating a thematically unified album. From the failure in the album's title to the busted radio on the cover to the many lyrical references concerning breaking or not fitting, Transmitter Failure is a cohesive piece of brokenness. "When we started tracking, about a third or half of the record was written, and it was the sort of situation where I knew from what I already had that I wanted to pursue this particular theme. The other songs sort of served as a reminder. They were hovering around my shoulder, saying, 'Don't forget about us! Don't forget about the big picture!'"

Among the 13 songs that made the final cut is Youngs' favorite, "No More Words," which encompasses six-and-a-half minutes and quite a bit of musical terrain. "I like that it actually goes someplace rather that just being verse, chorus, verse, chorus, and that's where I really went to town doing a lot of counter-vocal stuff and doubling." Youngs likes the song so much, in fact, that she'd like it to be covered. "If the skeletal remains of Nick Drake clawed their way out of a grave somewhere in England, or wherever he's buried, if he took 'No More Words' and doubled it in length for guitar-noodling purposes — 14 minutes of 'No More Words.' By Nick Drake. I'll take it. Reanimation of corpses is pretty exciting stuff."

Only Youngs with her gee-whiz (a phrase she uses often in conversation) humor could be equally glib about corpse reanimation and the one-note reputation she's earned in the press, namely for "Fuck Was I." "‘It's so novel. Wow. She uses adult language. Let's talk about it forever and ever,’" Youngs says, mimicking her critics. "There's not a single swear on this record," she adds.

The "angry woman" label is hard to shake. "I was thinking about this maybe a year ago, like huh, wow, women, anger. I started doing a little research on PJ Harvey, who I think is great and wonderful. Everything I could find said, like, in the first sentence, 'angry' or 'angst-ridden' or 'hyper-feminine.' But she just makes rock music. That's all."

Youngs is matter-of-factly sympathetic to Harvey's choice to distance herself from being labeled a feminist. "Poor PJ has probably gotten that question about nine million times. She probably does not make music from some place of being a woman and having feelings about being a woman. I feel like she probably just wants to rock. Is it important for women to be 'Yeah. Fuck yeah. I'm not afraid. Women are awesome'? Is it important? It's important. But should PJ Harvey in the 15th or 20th year of her career have to keep answering questions like, 'We know you play guitar and write songs, but what about your vagina?' In 20 years, if I was still [having to answer that question], I feel like I'll just punch people. In the vagina. Whenever possible. Until there are no vaginas left. Wait, this has spiraled into the abyss."

Fortunately, Youngs has a lot of faces to melt before her vagina-punching begins. "There are a ton of people I'd like to be able to say I toured with or wrote with or sang with, but we'll start with finishing this tour and then we'll see what's next. As far as the band shows go, we're just melting faces left and right. By the might of our rock."

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