audiotrack 10 Cent Wings

reviewed by Carey Dean Potash

Published in Issue No. 13 ~ June, 1998

 In an industry where major labels offer big bucks to be a bitch, it is refreshing to discover the honest and beautiful songwriting of Jonatha Brooke.

After ending her previous project The Story, Jonatha Brooke has proven with 10 Cent Wings that she can live happily ever after on her own. The CD is chock-full of gentle, introspective melodies. The folksy Bostonite offers slick beats, intelligent lyrics and unpredictable chord twists from beginning to end. The cleverness of the instrumentation hovers just beneath her emotions. The brief joy; the bleak hurt, always side by side as if to comfort.

Songs such as Secrets and Lies, Because I Told You So, The Choice, and Last Innocent Year are sparkling favorites, taking you on a private tour of her heart. Be courteous. No pictures please.

On The Choice, Brooke lays it all out on the table for you, bare, brave and direct. It’s her this-is-how-it-is approach to abortion, unmasked so you need not struggle through vague metaphors that only the writer understands.

My choice, my chance, roulette, romance

There are more women in music these days than you can shake a stick at, and now they’re shaking it right back at you – harder. It is difficult to shine in the company of global pop divas with attitudes. Jonatha Brooke does, and she soars with 10 Cent Wings.

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Carey Dean Potash graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in English. He works as an editor for an online news provider. He's only begun 'writing' short stories, his fiction appearing in a zine called Sink Full of Dishes and in the May issue of Pif. In his words, "I don't plan on riding horseback through the Rainforests with martini in hand at some $10,000 summer writing workshop. I've also never been a roadie for Kiss. And aside from winning 'Best Hair' in the eighth grade, I haven't won any contests." A major influence of his was Dave Louapre, who wrote a short-lived comic strip called Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children.