Reviews
A Handmade Life
“A masterpiece of audacious proportions. A stunning, truly ambitious achievement. The kind of album songwriters talk about someday making… If Rickie Lee Jones, Lou Reed and Laura Nyro were to collaborate on songs with Kurt Weill and Edgar Allen Poe and made an album produced by Tom Waits and Daniel Lanois, they might create something like A Handmade Life. Or not. Words fail to define that which is beyond words, so we reach for convenient comparisons. But some things – including deeply felt, beautifully executed art – exist in a realm beyond words. And that’s why God invented song. And songwriters like Jill Freeman to write them.” – Paul Zollo, American Songwriter (full review here)
“A Handmade Life is not quite like anything I have ever heard before… this is dramatic in the extreme, the music written for maximum effect… the story dances around the fringes of the sane with a promise of insanity, never quite stepping over the line but so close you might want it to just to see what would happen.” – Frank Gutch, Jr., No Depression (full review here)
“Jill Freeman deserves loud applause for this musically and lyrically ambitious, imaginatively crafted collection… Listening to such standouts as “Walking on Glass” and “Letters from Murdertown,” you’ll feel as if you’ve walked down a shadowy, foggy backstreet and drifted into a dream.” – Jeff Burger, The Morton Report (read more here)
“A Handmade Life is the latest offering from Jill Freeman on which she explores the Jungian psychology buried in fairy tales; extraordinary in conception, creation and performance she has produced an album full of superb music…
…This album is an absolute masterpiece. If Jill Freeman doesn’t write another song she can wake up every morning, turn on the CD player and say to herself, ‘job done.'” – Donald MacNeill, FRUK – Folk Radio UK (full review here)
“The result of Freeman’s Jungian dip with Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm and other fantasists whose names and stories had, until now, been gathering dust in the pre-school folds of my brain, are some of the most compelling song-stories I’ve heard. Often dark, sometimes fun and funny, always clever and literate, Freeman’s words take us to places, people and things we used to know but probably haven’t visited in a while…. In every respect, Jill Freeman’s ‘A Handmade Life’ is a triumph.” – Russ Buchanan, Craving Sense (full review here)
“With the same richness in her voice as Suzanne Vega, Aimee Mann and Sam Phillips, Freeman paints thoughtful pictures of mythical tales that are so visual that you feel as if you are in a theater watching them unfold, vividly, on stage, with an intensity that draws you in where you can live inside the emotions of each one of her characters. A sense masterpiece, already garnering tender reviews, that is sure to be anything but underexposed . . . ” – Underexposed
More Reviews for “A Handmade Life”
The Partially Examined Life (full review here)
Blue Ridge Outdoors (full review here)
Audio Fuzz (full review here)
Indie Voice Blog (full review here)
Pot Lista (in Croatian!) (full review here)
Songs About Sex & Depression
“Jill Freeman’s music is soft and sensual, with a vulnerability and honesty that will immediately endear it to any listener… with dark and bohemian arrangements, Jill Freeman reveals to you her deepest fears and joys, her rawest feelings and desires.” – John Schoenberger, The Album Network
“Jill Freeman’s CD has been a long time coming, but well worth the wait for this intimate collection of songs from an artist who is both a distinctive songwriter and a gifted singer.” – Paul Zollo, Sing Out! Magazine
“As Jane Siberry did in her early albums, Freeman combines raw emotional honesty with sparse arrangements and a delicate voice… Listeners who enjoy subtle, reflective music that doesn’t bombard their senses and cram meaning down their throats are going to enjoy Jill Freeman’s quiet, soft spoken music.” – Ron Hogan, Skew Magazine
“An intimate and introspective collection of tunes ranging from acoustic bohemian musings, to pop frolics, to lighthearted blues, the album is a showcase of Jill’s talents as both an endearing performer and a sensitive writer. Velvety, dark melodies blend with her tender voice and words to portray an honest, intimate, vulnerability. Freeman’s writing is both dark and friendly. Her lyrics point deep to the soul, speaking unabashedly, yet never losing a warmth that seems native to her spirit.” – Girl Music Online
“This is some damn fine music by a very good performer.” – Jon Pepper, Music Connection