Jessie Farrell
The Juno-winning Jessie Farrell (for her vocal contribution to the 2010 all-star charity Single of the Year “Wavin’ Flag”) has turned a creative corner in her career – by retreating into herself for some much-needed introspection. “I hear every word you say/ But it doesn’t mean I’m listening,” Farrell sings on the hypnotically stunning first single, “Turn You Down,” now airing with an equally captivating Margaret Malandruccolo-directed video on CMT Canada. “You used to come in loud and clear/ Now I’m far away and you’re whispering. Stop stepping on my heels/Standing on my cape/ You’re weighing me down. Baby I can’t turn you off/But I can turn you down.” Co-produced and co-written – as are the remaining nine songs of Love Letter, with her long-time guitarist Jesse Tucker – “Turn You Down” is an intoxicatingly powerful climate of disillusion and disappointment, the mood set by layers of stinging acoustic and electric guitar and Farrell’s reprimanding tone of resentment, as a sacred trust between two close friends seems to have been irreparably broken. Yet the empowering sentiment of defiance, independence and survival despite the former friend’s repression is as real as it gets.