Jana - Flash Of A Firefly

Native-American singer-songwriter Jana has experienced some great success in dance music and has scored legions of fans. Having charted on Billboard in the past with hits like ‘Stairway To Heaven’, ‘More Than Life’ and ‘Found A Love’, her songs have been remixed by amazing folks: Anthony Acid, DJ Skribble, Andy and The Lamboy, Guido Osorio, and Peter Presta.

Recently, her debut album was released on Radikal Records with a title as pretty as she is, ‘Flash Of A Firefly.’ When listening to the music, it is clearly evident that this project was a labor of love. Even though I don’t think every song is a winner, I literally felt the genuine effort and passion put into each track – from the vocals, to the music and production and most certainly in the outstanding songwriting. Of the sixteen songs on the album, Jana contributed her writing skills on eleven of them.

The CD does have a mixture of it all – if you are looking for over-the-top pop, listen to ‘Gotta Be’. Need a day to connect with the man upstairs? Play ‘Friend Above’ – a very pretty gospel song. Still in need of a fix of ‘feel good’ music? Be sure and play ‘One Spirit’ about peace and ‘I Am’ about diversity.

Jana gets funky on a few tracks, and on one song, ‘From A Tightrope,’ she gets a little too funky. Overall, this is the weakest track on the album – I felt I was listening to a collection of the ‘Worst of the 1980’s’, all in one song.

The winners on this debut are the top-notch ballads, several of which I hope Radikal will enlist remixers for – some would create dancefloor mayhem, such as what I feel is the standout song on the album ‘I’ll Be With You’ – everything is perfect here. Perfect music, production and vocals –this is the four-star song off of this album.

Additional noteworthy ballads include the powerful ‘You And I’ and ‘Baby I Love You.’ There is huge Adult Contemporary appeal with the track ‘Through The Eyes Of A Woman.’

Rounding out the vocal side of the debut are two additional tracks ‘Don’t Go’ and ‘Survive The Night’, both of which are nice, but not as memorable.

Sprinkled throughout the release are three different Native-American inspired instrumental tracks, each brief and each stunningly beautiful. There is also the inclusion of one short electro track, ‘Out The Window’ – this one is very dark and moody in nature – this would have been great under one of the vocal tracks.

Overall, a pleasant debut release from Jana. As I stated at the beginning, there is a different ‘feel’ about this release when you listen to the music – this is nice. My fingers will be crossed though, for remixes to come forward!