Back in July, Abby Jeanne returned to the city that helped shape her as a musician for a handful of performances. First there was the July 14 spot as one of Green Day's openers at the Harley-Davidson Homecoming. Then she bounced those big vocals off the walls of The Back Room while opening for Say She She on July 25, held down the East Stage at Brady Street Festival on July 29 and — between the two — graced our performance space for a Studio Milwaukee Session.
We didn’t know it at the time, but that visit to Milwaukee foreshadowed two pieces of news from Jeanne this week. The first ties into the bonus song she tacked onto the end of her session, Tina Turner’s “Contact High,” which is one of three covers Jeanne just released as a new EP, One Take Live in NYC.
A quick clarification: These aren’t live performances in the “in front of an audience” sense. Rather, as the name implies, Jeanne knocked them out as live recordings in a Brooklyn studio with mixing by Abe Seiferth, who served as producer for Nation of Language (another recent Studio Milwaukee visitor) on their first two albums.
In addition to “Contact High,” the EP contains a couple more songs Jeanne performed live during the summer — The Animals’ “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and Sly and the Family Stone’s “I Want to Take You Higher.” You can listen to “Misunderstood” using the player at the top of the page and pick up the full EP on her Bandcamp page.
The other news Jeanne dropped this week is a reunion of sorts with Say She She and a return to the U.K., a place she spoke fondly of during her interview with 88Nine’s Erin Wolf this past April. The discodelic trio invited Jeanne to join them across the pond for a run of shows, although they’re still working out exact dates and cities. For now, we’ll be sure to keep you up to date if Jeanne swings back toward her Milwaukee stomping grounds anytime in the near future.
