PI JACOBS
Hi-Rise Ranch
TCC Music

Pi Jacobs offers six songs of electrified Americana on Hi-Rise Ranch, which was crafted under the guidance of super-producer Eugene Toale. In her press release, Jacobs credits Toale—whose diverse previous work stretches from early bangers with Kanye West to more recent albums with the manifestly talented Mexican American polka genius Fernanda Ulibarri—with helping her find her “truest voice.” That voice propels gritty opener “Want To Want To,” which celebrates primal desire as she asks a lover to “pretend we have confidence, like a drug running through our veins.” If Jacobs’ confidence is pretend, however, she sure is a great faker. She sounds anything but pretend while putting her voice on full, robust display with songs including the galloping “Icy Road” and “Starting Now,” an empowering tribute to survivors of harrowing sexual violence that resolves with the self-affirmative lyric that “life is tough, but I am tougher.” Later, she presents a crooning, pensive, and soulful cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” that is not only shorter, more urgent, and far less rambling than the original but somehow more expansive as well. Jacobs is known for her slick guitar playing and prowess as a multi-instrumentalist, but her singing is the most potent element of this collection of funky, tight, and driving roots rock. She’s had tremendous success with licensing her songs in the past, and it’s likely that the songs on Hi-Rise Ranch will find high-profile placements as well.

—Geoff Geis

PI JACOBS’ HI-RISE RANCH RELEASE PARTY WITH CAL KING, THE FREIGHTSHAKERS, SARAH GAYLE MEECH AND TREVOR McSPADDEN ON SUN., APRIL 12, AT THE GRAND OLE ECHO AT THE ECHO, 1822 SUNSET BLVD., ECHO PARK. 3 PM / FREE BEFORE 6 PM / $5 AFTER / ALL AGES. MORE INFO HERE!