CMU Approved

Approved: Seeräuber Jenny – Loomings

By | Published on Monday 21 January 2013

Seeräuber Jenny

So, here’s a sad tale of a project that was over before it really got started. A few years back I received a demo CD from a teenage songwriter called Fran Barker, under the name Seeräuber Jenny, featuring some great songs that I immediately hoped would one day gain wider attention. Then in 2010 she re-emerged, seemingly to do just that, with Mint Royale’s Neil Claxton joining her as the project’s live-in producer. And the first thing they did was record a brilliant new version of the stand out track from that demo CD, ‘Push It Away’.

A band was put together, they played some gigs and the ground was set for the release of a debut album. Except that debut album never materialised. Everything went silent in the summer of 2011. Barker quietly changed her Twitter username and listed herself as an “unsuccessful adventurer”. Other than that, nothing.

Then last week a blog post appeared on the Seeräuber Jenny website – the first for eighteen months – from Claxton, explaining what had happened. Unhappy that a live band had been put together around her, rather than formed organically, Barker was sent off in the summer of 2011 to put together a band herself.

“When we finally reached a point where we really needed to see something, she admitted she hadn’t made any progress at all”, writes Claxton. “She had also come to the realisation over that summer that she had been much happier without the demands that we had been placing on her, and maybe she was better off without Seeräuber Jenny altogether”.

And so, there ended Seeräuber Jenny. Except for this little coda – clearly the fact that the album, which had been completed back at the beginning of 2011, would never be released had been bugging Claxton. Hence, as well as explaining what had happened last week, he also posted it up for all to hear. And you can see why – it’s a great album. Barker had more than a few very good songs up her sleeve and this record showcases them beautifully. You can download it for free here, and stream it via SoundCloud below.



READ MORE ABOUT: | | |