Mellow acoustic show goes well with Stress Relief Week

By Jordan Rowan
Staff Writer

On Wednesday morning, Dec. 9, as the second part of this year’s Coffee House Series, Jenn Mundia played a solo acoustic set of cover songs to a crowd of ARCC students.

“I’m here to do a mellow acoustic set while you study for finals,” said Mundia, right before she began her first song, which was somber version of Brittney Spears’ “Hit Me Baby, One More Time.”

Her show was a mix of popular songs, including Adele’s inescapable, “Hello,” and Beyoncé’s “Halo,” and songs from pop music’s past such as Aretha Franklin’s “Natural Woman,” and Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature.”

Mundia’s guitar playing was kept simple to let her R&B-style voice more easily navigate each song. The simpler the guitar playing got, during songs such as Ben E. King’s classic “Stand By Me,” and Tom Petty’s “Free Falling,” the more Mundia could focus on keeping her vocals sharp.

“All these pop songs are four chords, which is perfect for me,” said Mundia, after the show.

Mundia had some surprises up her sleeve, such as turning Kanye West’s auto-tuned, electronic 2008 hit “Heartless,” into a quiet, heartbreak ballad along with adding some soul swagger to Frankie Valli’s 1967 hit “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.”

The mellow mood of her set attained the “coffee house” feel this series is named after. Students continued to study for their finals while Mundia crooned to the stress that comes with them.

“I don’t envy any of you,” said Mundia, before playing the highlight of the show, a soft-voiced version of the obscure 2001 track “California,” by Phantom Planet.

Mundia came from Brooklyn to give these stressed ARCC students an acoustic distraction from finals week.