Jen Mize
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Jen Mize

Glass House Mountains, Queensland, Australia | Established. Jan 01, 2014 | INDIE

Glass House Mountains, Queensland, Australia | INDIE
Established on Jan, 2014
Solo Americana Singer/Songwriter

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"Jen Mize"

Acoustic Roundtable Review- 13/11/10

The 2010 AcousticRoundtable.com Singer/Songwriter Contest runner up, the Jen Mize Collective is an Australian based band that stays true to the Singer/Songwriter genre.

Have you ever met one of those people where everything seems to be “O” natural? You know, from the initial hello, how ya’ doing – to, can you hold on a second while I put my chicken outside? I can honestly say that in the twenty years of interviews with various artists from all walks of life, putting a LIVE chicken outside before the interview could begin was a first. It certainly broke the ice and made me laugh my ass off.

Making people feel comfortable is something Jen Mize has been doing since she was three years old. That’s right around the same time she first became interested in music. Jen was singing at the early age of 10, began playing cello, participating in musical theatre and teaching her self various instruments along the way…including guitar.

Influenced by artists such as Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman, James Taylor and the like…Jen was destined to be a songwriter from the get go. After spending part of her life Stateside in places like Boston, Las Vegas and more, Jen began working on cruise lines. It was during this time that she lost and found love and uprooted to the Sunshine Coast of Australia in pursuit of happiness.

Now residing just outside Brisbane, Australia…Jen spends at least four nights a week performing at various venues in the land down under. The song that garnered her 2nd place in the AR Contest, “Another Man’s Treasure” is semi-autobiographical. However, Jen feels it could apply to almost any young girl who found herself without a Father figure during childhood. It was the raw truthfulness of the lyrics to the song that captivated our judges and catapulted the song into second place.

That wasn’t the only song of Jen’s that advanced to the semi-final round. Another song off hers titled, Savannah also made it through the first round. The girls got talent and she knows what to do with it.

Imagine if you would, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Wonder and Tom Waits getting together to write some music. The results might sound a bit like the songs of Jen Mize. A soulful, bluesy vocal mixed with alluring melodies and a dash of the melancholy.

An accomplished singer, passionate storyteller and old soul, Jen conveys an innate understanding of the human condition through her insightful lyrics and honey-dipped melodies.

Jen's songs, like her cornbread, are rich, warm, tasty and filled with love. And guess what, we’re serving up a dish full right here on the AcousticRoundtable.com.
- AcousticRoundtable.com


"Jen Mize Collective -Ep"

From the onset, this offering from Jen Mize gets into a cute, slinky groove, with a smooth bass line rolling over a slight reggae beat and mildly phased and reverbed guitars.

It’s Jen’s voice in the first track ‘Predictable’ that stands out. This track is a surprise (not to judge a book by its cover, but the EP looks like it would be more alt country drenched), with this little nugget of rootsy groove. Jen’s voice is smooth, but not overly so, as there is something hidden underneath - be it past experiences trying to creep out, a little heartbreak maybe, or even a slight nod that she wants to bust out Melissa Etheridge style, however, she skillfully restrains.

It’s the next two tracks, ‘Another Man’s Treasure’ and ‘Fortify My Life’ where the alt-country style appears. This is red-wine and candle music. Smooth, and plenty of dynamics, with the music pulling back at the right moments to let Jen’s vocals carry, then soar into the climax.

However, ‘Humour Me’ is the track where the Blues seeps in, and makes you want to put the red wine down, and reach for the bourbon. The soulful keys and slightly distorted guitar (that’s got to be a Strat in the background, surely) give that oh-so-familiar blues night vibe, and you can really feel Jen as she wears her heart on her sleeve and lets that emotion bleed into her voice.

‘Jerk the Wheel’ adds a bit of dirt to her sound, carrying on with the Blues tones from the last track, but then combining a small amount of grunt into the sound. Personally a stand out track on the EP, and at risk of getting a bit smutty, it makes you want to dry hump something.

Finishing off with ‘Murderer’s Row’, the awesome sound of slide guitar gets things going, and just when you think it’s heading towards a full stompin’ sound, Jen and her crafty crew flip the coin and pull right back instead, with a slow-burning echoed beat, and those soulful keys make their return.

All in all, this a great offering from Jen Mize and her collective, so go see her live (she either performs solo or with her band), and grab a copy of her EP.

Rooster.

- THE POINT- Sunshine Coast Review


"Jen's Songs"

Jen's songs will have you wanting more and more of the melancholy beauty that she emotes through her mesmerizing performances. - Bree Noble-Women Of Substance Radio


"Jen Mize @ UpFront Club"

You can't help but be drawn to the stories and songs of Jen Mize. - The Range News


"Soulful voice"

With a soulful voice and Powerful lyrical imagery, Jen's song will have you wanting more. - The Range News


"Jen Mize @ UpFront Club"

You can't help but be drawn to the stories and songs of Jen Mize. - The Range News


"Fields Of Cotton"

"Jen Mize's music takes you to a place where fields of cotton and tobacco combine with sand and salt water." - Claire Polanski, Tsunami Music Magazine - Tsunami Music Magazine


"Fields Of Cotton"

"Jen Mize's music takes you to a place where fields of cotton and tobacco combine with sand and salt water." - Claire Polanski, Tsunami Music Magazine - Tsunami Music Magazine


Discography

Fear, Pride & a few Stubborn Angels, 2013

Photos

Bio

“There's nothing quite like moving to another country and going through an extreme identity crisis to find out who you really are,” reflects American songwriter Jen Mize from her home on Australia's Sunshine Coast, a smile crossing her lips. Situated between the mountains and the sea, about an hour north of Brisbane, her adopted surroundings and the stress of relocating so far from her friends and family awakened something within her – paradoxically deepening her connection to her homeland and ancestors. “I moved to Australia to find myself – that age-old tale,” she reflects. “And, for the first time, who I am as a person started to dictate who I am as an artist.”

A descendant of the Lumbee Tribe of native Americans, Mize hails from a family of Georgia cotton and North Carolina tobacco farmers, Appalachian moonshiners, and growers of what she of what she likes to winkingly refer to as “questionable crops.”

The ten original songs that comprise Mize's debut album Fear, Pride & a Few Stubborn Angels – which is available Sept 16, 2014 – are elegantly plainspoken, made all the more luminous by their uncluttered, largely acoustic settings. With the bluesy twang of her nuanced vocals adding a simmering, worldly undertone, they are by turns playful, haunting, and enchanting. It's the first postcard from a winding journey – one that has taken Mize across America and around the world before setting her down more than seven thousand miles from home. Along the way, she has come to
embrace the contradictions that define her: a wanderer with profound roots; a country singer with conservatory training; a compelling, defiantly American writer who found her voice in rural Australia.

Band Members