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Jennifer Tefft
Stealing Back to the Lizard Lounge
With "Time Is a Thief"

Brattleboro, Vt,  August 4  -  A few years ago, Steve Morse had an intriguing notice in the Boston Globe about a Boston-area rock singer-songwriter,  Jennifer Tefft.   Never heard of her.  Curious, I lined up a copy of her then-new album, Shift.  Emotionally intense from start to finish, it was a challenging record.  Strong on melodies, Shift was easy on the ears without being anything at all like easy listening.   I was impressed.  After getting this newsletter started, we wasted no time checking in with Tefft.  Our first news item about her was posted way back in our third issue.

This newsletter, since Issue 3, has had less music news about Jennifer Tefft than we would have liked.  We're thinking from here to maternity has been more the theme.  But now Tefft is back in the record bins with an easy winner,  Time Is a Thief.

To the question of what she was trying to accomplish with the new CD, Tefft said, "I just wanted to make some more music.   I had a bunch of songs in various states of completion and it had been a while since I had really done anything.  It was more self-indulgence than anything!   I love playing with my band members, and recording is always a blast.  And on a more practical note, I had to get some new music to my agent in New York who licenses my work to TV shows. (That's how I pay the bills.)

"I make music that moves me when I play it, music that I like to hear.  In the pre-production stage, if I get goose bumps or start giggling, it means the song is going where it should."

Time Is a Thief, though equally powerful, is more emotionally varied than Shift.  Asked whether changes in her own life might account for this, Tefft said, "Well, I think it's impossible to go through a change as big as becoming a mom (twice) without it changing you inside and out.

"My life is very different than it was five years ago.  The songs on this album were written over the last five or so years and a lot has happened in my life, as well as in the world, that influenced those songs.  Some of them, like 'No Trial Runs' and 'Quiet Sky,' were written in the weeks after September 11th.  'Cry' was written a few months after my first child was born and came out of my utter astonishment at this strange creature and the power he now had over my life!   Others were written about relationships with various people in my life.   I have a lot more confidence in myself as a person than I did a few years ago."

Time Is a Thief has subtle touches of diverse, unexpected rock-era music styles, ranging anywhere from early heavy metal to the pop side of grunge.  There is even one brief, grimy moment of Nine Inch Nails-style industrial rock on the opening cut, as the Jennifer Tefft Band throws this rock 'n' roll vehicle into gear.

"I really came of age, musically speaking, to the music of the mid-90s grunge era," said Tefft.   "I still go back to those artists again and again for inspiration.   I love the angst, passion, and raw emotion.  And before that I was, in fact, a metal-head tart. (eek)   As for the band members, they all have such a wide variety of influences.  They are very talented and intuitive players and it always amazes me how they are able to feel or hear how I need something to be played, usually without me having to tell them.

"It would be hard to be a musician in the early 90s without taking something from Kurt Cobain.   I was just starting to write and play music at that point but I think more than musically, I was influenced by his passion and energy.   I loved Nirvana, still do, and don't want to sound anything like them."

Tefft may be speaking for a very large number of artists.  It is surprising the tremendous diversity of musicians who have told me they were influenced by grunge in general and Nirvana in particular but who sound not a thing like the popular Kurt Cobain group nor like other high-profile grunge bands.

"I really had no plan and had no clue how this album was going to sound," said Tefft, shifting direction.  "In general, I'm a big fan of dynamics within a song.   I love a sparse, or quietly intense verse that explodes into a huge chorus or vice versa.  So maybe that tendency unintentionally carried over to the album as a whole.   I also think that the songwriting is a lot more introspective than it has been in the past and there was much more of a focus on serving the song as an individual as opposed to worrying about the overall tone of the album."

A career in music that is at all long-lasting is bound to come with a few surprises.

"I think one of my favorite moments was in pre-production for my last album, Shift," recalled Tefft.   "I hadn't really worked out the arrangement for a song called 'My Own,' and we were just running it down in the rehearsal space.  The air conditioning was broken and it was a zillion degrees in there.  When we got to the chorus, I had no idea what was going to happen, when Jeff, my bass player starts playing this sick groove.   I was so happy I almost peed myself.  It was one of those magic musical moments where everything just falls into place.  When we stopped playing, everyone was psyched.  To this day, that is one of my favorite songs to listen to or play live."

Another surprise came quite recently in a notice of the new album, Time Is a Thief.  Tefft explained, "[T]he interviewer went on at length about a song called 'Sexy.'   I don't have a song by that title.

"Hmmm."

Maybe there'll be a track called "Sexy" on the next disc.

If there could be a perfect double bill involving the Jennifer Tefft Band, what would be the other act?   "My all-time favorite Boston band,  Tribe."

Time Is a Thief is geared for close listening.  Tribe fans with good ears may hear little echoes of that revered outfit in the music of Tefft's new disc.  This Tribe fan sure did.

On another front, Tefft said, "I get compared to every female artist out there, so in the ten years I've been doing this I guess you could say that people usually hear something current or relevant in my music."

Promotion to radio of Time Is a Thief is not quite underway, but Tefft is thinking the most likely tracks for Triple-A airplay may be "Soliloquy," "Undone," or "Cry."

"Right now we are in the middle of a national press campaign and will probably start radio in the fall," she said.   "A lot of Internet promo.  We are playing locally every month or so and if the right situation comes along, I wouldn't rule out a tour if I could bring my kids with me."

As for the Lizard Lounge, Tefft declared, "I love that room.  It is intimate and laid back.  It is a cool hang for the Boston music crowd, so there are always friends and fellow musicians in the crowd.  The people who book it and run it are all musicians so they do their best to make sure you have a successful show."

When asked for a Lizard Lounge anecdote, Tefft replied, "The details are fuzzy as it was several years ago now.  But I was looking for someone who worked there to ask them a question.   I was directed to a door downstairs in the club.   I walked through it and ended up out back in the parking lot  -  locked out.

"So I trekked back around to the front of the club and tried asking a different person and was directed to another door, this time upstairs in the club.   I walked through it and found myself again in the parking lot  -  locked out.   I figured maybe they were trying to tell me something.   LOL!

"So this time I went to my van to get something, ended up on my cell phone, and about a half-hour had passed.

"I again trekked around to the front and now there was a line to get in. (Yay!)   I went to the front of the line to enter the club and was immediately accosted by a woman who accused me of cutting the line!   Luckily the door man rescued me and settled the issue.

"I never did find the person I was looking for."

We wondered aloud whether Tefft has anything out of the ordinary planned for her return to the Lizard Lounge.

"Cage dancers, jugglers . . . oh no, that's a different show!   I think we have a long set or maybe even two sets, so we are actually going to be dusting off some of my older tunes that haven't seen the light of day in a loooong time!"

Unless you had your heart set on those cage dancers and jugglers, for great new tunes and old, the Lizard is the place to lounge.

• Who:   Jennifer Tefft Band
• Where:   Lizard Lounge, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• When:   Thursday, August 9
• For more information:   www.jennifertefft.com

I had hoped to give Time Is a Thief a couple more spins while finishing up this article and compiling this newsletter issue.  But yesterday's extremely loud and exceptionally long thunderstorm washed that plan away.  Jennifer Tefft makes albums that I like a lot.  With luck, I will be able to comment on Time Is a Thief more later.