Jessi Teich - Twisted Soul

2015 album from the powerhouse vocalist. Jessi calls Twisted Soul "a crossover record with a jazz spinal cord," with a sequenced "operatic" story arc of cathartic metamorphosis - overcoming tragedy through change and growth. The album showcases Jessi's sinuous vocal prowess as well as her heralded songwriting capacity, and contains three songs which already have won awards, including the kickoff track, "The Haunting," winner of three competitions on it's own. She writes impressionistically about heartbreak, love, loss, gain, and sisterhood on Twisted Soul, tracing her surrender to - and eventual escape from - a controlling, abusive lover. All the while, she masterfully mixes jazz sophistication, blues grit, and soul's tragic romance, with an edgy-but-elegant aesthetic. It's that type of classy combination that's drawn her comparisons to everyone from Billie Holiday to Sade to Fiona Apple, and admiration for Jessi's rare sense of soul-baring vocal honesty with no pretenses or unnecessary acrobatics.