Jen Chapin – Reckoning

Vinyl, LP, Stereo

Reckoning was recorded, mixed and produced by the esteemed 5-time Grammy Award winner Kevin Killen, who has mixed, engineered and produced with U2, Elvis Costello, Peter Gabriel, Jewel, Bobby McFerrin, Tori Amos, Kate Bush, Shawn Colvin (among many others).The album reckons with the challenge of balancing creative ambitions with the immediate demands of mothering small children — combined with a good dose of social commentary. In the poignant “Let it Show”, Jen sings to her not-yet firstborn “… the one thing you should know/is find your joy and let it show,” then in the candid tango-tinged rocker “Go Away:” “I love when you go away/my patience returns like a long lost friend..” Jen’s band cooks right along under her intimate portrait of a broken food system in “Feed Your Baby” and “Insatiable,” her indictment of our militaristic and security-obsessed culture, while the sensuous reggae of “Don’t Talk” extols the virtues of non-verbal marital communication (i.e. sex!). Other songs include the fiery “Don’t Rush Me,” emerging from the experience of childbirth, and “Gospel” — a celebration of social movements for economic justice and democracy around the world.