Jessica Lea Mayfield: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

These days, Jessica Lea Mayfield is all contrasts, starting with the way she sets her wistful voice against her shimmering guitar. It's got a harder edge to it than the rootsier music of her past. Then there's that cotton-candy hair and all the glitter; her guitar glitters, her eyes glitter, her shoes glitter. It's easier to talk about what isn't glittered — and mostly that'd be her lyrics. In the final song from both her album Make My Head Sing... and this Tiny Desk Concert, "Seein* Starz," she starkly sings:

When it's just us two in the dark
You've got a stranglehold
On my heart

When she speaks of her unicorn-adorned guitar knobs, she sounds about 13. But then there are lines like these, from "Party Drugs":

Party drugs just make us argue
Don't know why they didn't used to

In those moments, you're hearing an older, hopefully wiser character. All those schisms in her sound beguile me. On the record, her songs often rock with abandon. Here, they hypnotize. --BOB BOILEN

Set List:
"Standing In The Sun"
"Party Drugs"
"Seein* Starz"

Credits:
Producers: Bob Boilen, Denise DeBelius; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Videographers: Denise DeBelius, Colin Marshall