I watched Juno again on Sunday. I find myself wanting to do so every couple of years or so and enjoying it thoroughly every time I do. I guess I'm just a sentimental fool. Sure, it's highly cutesy and not really credible, (that Yuppie couple seriously), but it definitely touches on the real and is kind of heartwarming in that it says you'll probably be OK in the end what with family, friends, brains and love. Even if the whole world seems to be conspiring against you at times.
Strangely, the next day I found myself listening to a record that reminded me of it greatly in terms of sensibility, tone and mood. Los Angeles' Rosie Tucker's second album Never Not Never Not Never Not, seems destined to be my 'album that reminds me of Juno for 2019'.
These records are coming out all the time now. Sure, I know, the pains of teenage hormonal rites of passage has been a regular on the menu since Catcher in the Rye was published but we seem to be getting a glut right now of this 'my folks don't understand me and neither does the rest of the world' stuff. Especially from young female American artists. Though Never Not Never Not Never Not, does sound quite a bit like a lot of other contemporary albums and artists, Soccer Mommy, Anna Birch and Frankie Cosmos for starters, the song writing and performances are more than strong enough for it to generate its own space.
I wish I could hear the lyrics better because there seems to be a lot going on here in that respect. They seem to be finely drawn vignettes of moments in life, that light up the bigger picture. The kind of things that Courtney Barnett brought back into fashion. Sadly they don't always get across to me, but the vocals, tunes and song structures are strong enough to carry the record forcefully enough. What Tucker says on her Spotify home page is illuminating; 'I like art that happens when when people toil in obscurity, although I guess that's not my goal right now.' The album is eleven tracks in all, short of thirty minutes in all. It's neat.
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