Jonneine Zapata Quiet intensity doesn’t always translate to bulging neck veins while internalizing. In the arts it can signify mesmerizing subtlety. In 1988 Brian Eno made an art installation for the Santa Monica Museum of Art that appeared to be white geometric shapes with Christmas tree-colored lights on them amidst a few very large white cubes, all in a darkened room. If that was all you took in at first gaze, that’s all you saw. Most visitors left after a perplexed and befuddled minute or two. However, fans of Eno’s music and creative wit could predict there might be more to it. Pal Elaine Drake and I looked around and then sat right down on the large art cubes, post-punks that we both were. Over time, all of the lights slowly changed colors and intensities on the various white cardboard shapes. Many of the subtle light changes turned out to be slow-motion projections from inconspicuous monitors. It was both a serene and stimulating art experience simultaneously which took its sweet time. The above is analogous to taking in singer/songwriter JONNEINE ZAPATA. The Southern California bred (but much traveled) artist offers performances of seemingly quiet intensity with her band or unplugged with a single guitarist. Both feature pauses to underscore the set’s strong emotions, just as in real life conversations about disturbing personal problems. Zapata’s smooth and soulful soprano with its almost catch-in-the-throat might ring reminiscent of some of the modern country artists on the charts if they ever had even an iota of nonmanufactured emotionalism. She’s been compared to PJ Harvey for equaling her on the catharsis barometer, but if forced I’d hold out more for Martha Davis of The Motels, she of an equally beautiful albeit quite different voice. Like Jonneine’s admitted influence Nick Cave, there’s always some uncomfortably dark truths beneath the outside beauty in both Davis and Zapata, puissant polish masking the interior voltage. Like the Eno art, serene but exciting. Delivery and lyrics? Simple but suggestive/aggressive... 256
PARAPHILIA TRASUMANAR
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