Flashback: Spring of 1995. Setting: San Diego's annual May Day, an all-day outdoor music festival featuring bands from the city's rich and varied local scene. A sweet-faced, slightly chubby teen, her hair in two messy pigtails, performs a yodeling repertoire to a crowd of skate-punks before hopping off stage to rub elbows with fellow locals Unwritten Law, Lucy's Fur Coat, and (pre-hit single) Sprung Monkey. Two weeks later, she hops on stage at a small Los Angeles club with kitsch-pop band the Rugburns, singing a breathless, excited duet with boyfriend/frontman Steve Poltz. Jaded Angelenos barely look up from their beers.
It hardly seems possible now to connect that exuberant, lank-haired girl with the suddenly golden, lush, and non-yodeling woman Jewel Kilcher has now become. However, for those (relatively few) who witnessed her before she became famous, it's not terribly hard to identify in her today bits of her original, San Diegan-dilettante persona--and this is what keeps Jewel, the star, from being insufferable in her enormity. Her long-awaited sophomore release is blessedly free from the Nevermind-syndrome overproduction that money and fame often bring. Sure, there's a richer sound here than on her debut--the sound of several high-profile guest musicians at work--but her appealingly immature, lily-pure lilt manages to hang on to center stage ungilded.
In short, Spirit is a quieter album than Pieces Of You. There's no histrionic reaching for upper octaves or cigarette-smoking boys in the rain. Jewel instead focuses on a gentle--almost country--sound throughout. Songs such as "Deep Water" and "What's Simple Is True" are centered around the sweet, age-old Corinthians 1:13 theme of "love is everything." "Down So Long" and "Innocence Maintained" are delicate but funky groove exercises. The lovely "Enter From The East" is almost entirely vocal, with just a murmur of guitar and strings for effect. In a nice touch, Jewel's mom/manager Nedra Carroll adds surprisingly effective harmonies to "Hands" and extra track "This Little Bird." She's a deeper-voiced version of her daughter.
Taken as a whole, Spirit is warm and unpretentious--no small feat for one of the highest-profile releases of the year. Jewel may be publishing books and buying designer clothes now, but she's eternally the ultimate beach girl/coffeehouse folkie.
