The simplistic emotion is my favorite thing about Jenny Dee’s music. From the moment she starts singing, the tone her voice possesses automatically draws you into whatever she has to say. Her delicate indie-folk aura is evident in her new debut album, Dancing From A Distance released on March 6.
Every song is fairly minimalistic, whether it’s a soft piano or light picking of an acoustic guitar. She doesn’t need anything else; she’s a poet. She tells stories through her voice and lyrics that don’t need to be accompanied by much of anything.
“Wolves,” track nine on Dee’s debut album, is a gorgeous track. It speaks to the inevitable truth that people grow apart with time, and it’s achingly beautiful.
The song opens in verse one with her questioning the very place she’s in, and you can hear the pain in her realizing that it’s not the same as it used to be.
How did we get here?
We were just by the water, it seemed
The wolves, they are howling
And I think they know something we don’t
How could opening lines like that not immediately make you want to hear so much more? You can feel the confusion of how they got to that point, mixed with the admission of the “wolves” in their lives whether that be their past or anything that may haunt them.
Sometimes we grow apart
Sometimes I wish we’d start
So let’s just be here
Until the wolves come out
Those lines are the realization of their impending end, even though they may not want it to. It’s such a beautiful way of expressing a feeling that I know a lot of us have felt at some point, trying so hard to hold onto something, but knowing that the wolves will eventually come. The lyrical change is verse two is one of my favorite things about the song.
I know how we got here
The water was destined to freeze
The wolves, they are louder
And I think that they’re comin’ our way
When we reach the middle of the song, Dee is no longer questioning how they got there, but she’s realizing that they should have known it all along. It’s so beautiful and tragic in the best way. It’s such an important transition in the song, because the feelings she’s expressing are unexpected, just like they are in real life. Now you’re halfway through the song and you still don’t want to stop listening.
When the wolves come quick in the night
Make sure you got a place to hide.
If those walls can’t hold all your poetry
Then maybe we should stay outside
Those are the last lyrics you hear before the song ends, and they’re definitely my favorite. To me, it’s Dee saying that if we can’t be what we want to be together, then we should just stay outside and let our “wolves” take over. It’s so sad, but that’s what makes it so captivating and real.
That’s exactly what Jenny Dee’s music is: captivating and real. The whole album showcases how incredible of a songwriter she is, and “Wolves” is a true example of that. It reaches into your heart and pulls out the pain of time and something that was lost. You will absolutely not regret listening to “Wolves” or any of Dancing From A Distance.
