Jean Mazzei Music

“Face of a Nation”, is a fun yet serious excursion through finely crafted pop tunes: high energy emotional funky pop styled rebel anthems that also explode into heavy metal rock and roll gale force winds that take flight without thought. Moving in and out and around the melody like a band of gypsies, Flying Venus, dips, rattles and roars through 14 songs (all tracks written by Jean Mazzei except 10 & 13). Their bio states the band is an abundant blend of “Heavy Americana” and “80’s retro sound with a fresh twist, fishnets included.”. The band’s enthusiasm is strong and consistent while some of the music gets a bit off the main path but quickly catches the drift back to center. Each track a journey down it’s own road, lyrics chosen well and performed with passion by Jean Mazzei and backup Dori Petrie. On “Sweet Dreams”, cool cover of the Eurythmics hit of the early 80’s, Petrie handles the lead vox with confidence. The title song, “Face of a Nation”, is a conscience shattering message with Jean’s voice an illumination about the condition we’re in right now with universal not just global social concerns. "Long Road to Memphis", "House of Cards", and "American Nightmare" are worthy to note. BC Cliver, classically trained artist transforming music beyond genres, delivers monster guitar with the notes and chords bouncing off Xavier Guerrero’s bass lines and Fred Harris precision beats on the drums. Cover songs tend to test a fan's patience but “She Drives Me Crazy” and “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” are performed well. Flying Venus is a free flying, spirited and enlightened blast to the past but you can come back safely tp the present anytime. Check out the album art - earth friendly cardboard sleeve! - Toni Koch, Songsalive

Face of A Nation is a soulful album with a funky undertone that makes you glad you picked up this cd.

Jean's voice is a sleek sultry sound that is pure listening pleasure, accompanied by the ideal instrumental groovy. Making Face Of A Nation a must have for your cd collection.

My favorite tracks on this cd are Long Road To Memphis and Kinda Like U although I didn't find a track on this cd I didn't like. These two songs just
happen to speak to me. You will find while listening to Face Of A Nation that the album has a pure ambiance about it that flows from one song to the next.

Leaving you eager for your next taste of what Flying Venus has to offer! - Raven Entertainment

"...Mazzei's self-described "attitude pop" has a pleasant, retro-'80s girl band feel. Her voice is great... Word on the street is she's an exceptional jazz vocalist. A thudding bass line and squealing guitar breaks with Mazzei's funky vocal stylings creating a song that sounds like a perfect soundtrack for a '70s B movie..." - West Coast Performer Magazine

“BREATHING UNDER WATER marks a big leap forward on my journey as a songwriter.” Jean Mazzei writes on her website. “With this album, I feel like I have come home, trusting and listening to my voice as an artist.” The tongue twister first song “A Bad Luck Black Cat & a Ladder” is an interestingly groovy and melodic guitar driven song that talks of black cat bad luck as a metaphor for being alone. She twists the tale (tail?) weaving in and out of her loneliness story through her cat needs. It’s quite a humorous yet poignant song. With the excellent touches of grammy nominated producer Ronan Chris Murphy, Jean Mazzei’s album is a really cool and hip sounding album, with sonic textures and interesting guitar sounds.
Her second song “Big Girls Don’t Cry” is a somewhat melancholy and introspective song, entrancing with the sounds she uses. Third song, “Lost in the Chaos”, is like an opening to a 9 Inch Nails song, the distorted guitars and loops are very hard edge, and with her voice, it has a touch of Portishead. I really enjoyed listening to this song, because the sounds were so different. Again, she has a melancholic overtone, and I feel that this theme is somewhat relatable to any individual who deals with the pressures and stresses of life, lost romance, chaotic work life and such. Jean Mazzei’s album is a testiment to singer-songwriters who don’t need to stay stuck in the mold of indie, acoustic folk songs. She has taken relatively sensitive songs to a new place with the production and sonic textures and it’s worked. Please go check out Jean’s album at http://cdbaby.com/cd/jeanmazzei3


- Gilli Moon

- Gilli Moon