Jennifer Heieck rocks the Union
Cara Scharf
Issue date: 9/22/05 Section: Life!
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The woman at the piano could pass for a college student. She is wearing faded jeans and a white tank top, her wrists are decorated with several tasteful bracelets, and her hair is long and straight with bangs that keep falling over her eyes. Yet beneath this extremely simple getup is an underrated musical talent.
On Saturday night, singer/songwriter Jennifer Heieck came to the College to play a one hour set in Seegers Union with only a keyboard. At first, one could think that the synthetic tinkling of the instrument took away from her sound, but at the same time one could tell that with a real piano she would have sounded amazing.
Her voice also overshadowed this initial problem. It was pretty and gentle but hard around the edges. She switched back and forth depending on the songs she was singing and the emotions behind them. Sometimes she had hushed melodies and other times she emitted a gravelly, louder sound reminiscent of a rock star.
As she confirmed later in the night, she recorded a CD and used to play with a full rock band, but her music also worked with only a keyboard and her voice. In that sense she is very versatile.
In terms of her performance, she put on a great show. She rocked back and forth on the piano bench, shoulders rising and falling to the beat of each song. She was constantly readjusting her legs and moving her feet around. Her frantic fingers climbed their way over the keys. You could tell she was really enjoying herself and it made watching her enjoyable as well. At one point, she even stood up and sang an acapella song during which she had the whole audience clapping along.
Most of her songs were about relationships, and as she said, she's a "relationship kind of girl". One of her originals, Rollacoasta, was very haunting and beautiful, but it also had an upbeat element that made it interesting to listen to. She also played an original called Addiction which had innovative lyrics, but she used a different, fake sounding tone on the keyboard. Her voice and the merit of the song, however, still made listening worthwhile. She also performed a few covers such as Criminal by Fiona Apple, whose sound she said influenced her. Her version was a bit softer and less angry than the original.
The audience, though, left something to be desired. People kept coming and going, and there were large crowds standing around in the lobby talking loudly and eating. Perhaps it was just the venue, but it was still surprising that more people did not stop to listen and that a little more respect wasn't shown to the artist while she performed.
All in all the performance was extremely enjoyable. Jennifer Heieck entertained her audience and left them humming her tunes. She even won over some new fans who purchased her CD.
On Saturday night, singer/songwriter Jennifer Heieck came to the College to play a one hour set in Seegers Union with only a keyboard. At first, one could think that the synthetic tinkling of the instrument took away from her sound, but at the same time one could tell that with a real piano she would have sounded amazing.
Her voice also overshadowed this initial problem. It was pretty and gentle but hard around the edges. She switched back and forth depending on the songs she was singing and the emotions behind them. Sometimes she had hushed melodies and other times she emitted a gravelly, louder sound reminiscent of a rock star.
As she confirmed later in the night, she recorded a CD and used to play with a full rock band, but her music also worked with only a keyboard and her voice. In that sense she is very versatile.
In terms of her performance, she put on a great show. She rocked back and forth on the piano bench, shoulders rising and falling to the beat of each song. She was constantly readjusting her legs and moving her feet around. Her frantic fingers climbed their way over the keys. You could tell she was really enjoying herself and it made watching her enjoyable as well. At one point, she even stood up and sang an acapella song during which she had the whole audience clapping along.
Most of her songs were about relationships, and as she said, she's a "relationship kind of girl". One of her originals, Rollacoasta, was very haunting and beautiful, but it also had an upbeat element that made it interesting to listen to. She also played an original called Addiction which had innovative lyrics, but she used a different, fake sounding tone on the keyboard. Her voice and the merit of the song, however, still made listening worthwhile. She also performed a few covers such as Criminal by Fiona Apple, whose sound she said influenced her. Her version was a bit softer and less angry than the original.
The audience, though, left something to be desired. People kept coming and going, and there were large crowds standing around in the lobby talking loudly and eating. Perhaps it was just the venue, but it was still surprising that more people did not stop to listen and that a little more respect wasn't shown to the artist while she performed.
All in all the performance was extremely enjoyable. Jennifer Heieck entertained her audience and left them humming her tunes. She even won over some new fans who purchased her CD.