Jacqueline

Chronique

A dramatic departure from her soul-searching experimental indie folk project Circuit des Yeux, Haley Fohr concocts a hazy, diamond-studded outlaw fantasy with her fictional alter ego Jackie Lynn. Continuing the story from Lynn's 2016 debut, Jacqueline is the travelogue of the co-conspirator of a multi-million-dollar cocaine business, on the run after making a hasty retreat from Chicago. Accompanied by all three members of Bitchin Bajas (Cooper Crain, Rob Frye, and Dan Quinlivan), Jacqueline shifts from the Krautrock-influenced synth pop of Jackie Lynn to more of a space disco sound, with opener "Casino Queen" sporting a strutting beat and playful sequencer blips. "Shugar Water" is closer to a glam rock shuffle, providing a gleeful soundtrack to a cross-country escape. Adding new dimensions to the Jackie Lynn sound, songs such as the cosmic country of "Dream St." feature lush string arrangements by Julie Pomerleau and Bobby Conn, while the more mystical "Short Black Dress" has celebratory horns and brain-twisting reversed guitars. Having more fun with vocal manipulations and audacious delay effects, the epic, hypnotic "Odessa" resembles a discofied Silver Apples. The shimmering, vocoder-laced "Diamond Glue" unexpectedly dips into late-night electro-funk, and while it isn't one of the album's hookiest songs, it's one of its most immersive grooves. While undoubtedly more developed and ambitious than the first Jackie Lynn record, Jacqueline still sounds like the work of an experimental side project, but it's clear that Fohr and her friends are having an awful lot of fun with this, and it's easy to get swept up in their immersive dream world.

© Paul Simpson /TiVo