There’s a moment about two-thirds of the way through Amy Winehouse’s stunning cover of the Specials’ Hey Little Rich Girl when the singer bursts into laughter, caught up in the intoxication of the moment as her backing singer helps himself to a few high notes. She can’t help herself. She’s having so much fun.
It’s one of those defining moments that can really bring home a singer’s character. Like the way Nina Simone misses her cue momentarily, coming back in off the chorus on My Baby Just Cares for Me, or the emotional stutter repeat that sets Etta James’ version of I’d Rather Go Blind apart from all who followed (including Beyoncé, who technically sings it “better”, but comes nowhere near to capturing the song’s heart).
It’s quite a trick, the ability to put your character across in a song, to infuse your voice with soul and passion and such clear enjoyment of music – and while I’m not claiming the soulful blues exhibited on the second album from the Melbourne singer Mojo Juju is up to Winehouse standard (yet), it boasts a bellicose swagger and joie de vivre that serves her well.
That’s not to suggest Juju is aiming for another star’s territory. The album’s first single, the brass-laden and rather intoxicating My Heart Is Not a Yo-Yo, possesses an assurance that simply can’t be obtained by copying others.
The music is familiar, immediately so. Although the band sounds suitably swinging and funkdafied and soulful in all the right spots, it sometimes feels as though there’s something missing – another instrument, perhaps? The songs are fine but for some reason the sound on Seeing Red/Feeling Blue can often seem slightly lacking.
Sometimes, you kind of wish Juju would follow her inclinations and go all out for some Cajun blues, or a swing-time serenade. Sometimes it sounds a little 2000s (the nightclub-filling Outkast-style R&B of If You Wanna Stay) and sometimes it’s more obviously Mark Ronson territory, in the opening wail and wonder of the downbeat Your Love, for example, which dips and soars in its emotional turmoil.
Second single They Come & They Go, with its semi-spoken mid-section and swampy feel, could be mistaken for an early Lanie Lane song – as could the deep bass throb of Straight to Hell. But it doesn’t matter too much. Nor does the vaguely unimaginative production and lack of musical oomph. There’s usually more than enough personality seeping through the grooves on songs like the sensuously sumptuous Rain it Down from Juju’s voice itself to carry the album, zoot suits, juke-joint blues and so on.
It’s what is commonly described as a BIG voice, and rightly so – and it all comes together on the wickedly upbeat Get Fooled with its infectious “talk talk talk/take take take” refrain, Juju rasping slightly as she loses herself in the moment.
Seeing Red/Feeling Blue is a likable enough album, decent kitchen listening and very companionable; good but not great. I would love to hear her cut loose. I’d imagine she’s great in a live setting.
• Seeing Red/Feeling Blue is out now on ABC Music/Universal
