Jessica Lea Mayfield plays Juanitas tonight.

  • Jessica Lea Mayfield plays Juanita’s tonight.

JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD
9 p.m. Juanita’s. $10.

Jessica Lea Mayfield is one of those wise-beyond-her-years singer/songwriters who might cause nonbelievers to reconsider reincarnation.

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Ruling out the influence of past lives, Mayfield must have either had a string of painful breakups by the tender age of 21, or else she has a powerful imagination and the ability to synthesize real, grownup heartache to a degree so convincing that it doesn’t matter whether it really happened.

A native of Kent, Ohio, Mayfield kicked off her recording career with a homemade EP that fell into the lap of Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. Auerbach helmed both of her full-lengths, enveloping her songs in a sparse yet rich production, particularly her most recent album, “Tell Me,” a set dominated by ruminations on relationships that border on the morose.

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On lead single “Our Hearts Are Wrong,” Mayfield feigns aloof circumspection, but reveals her underlying vulnerability over simple acoustic guitar strumming and a gently thudding Casio beat. She’s got a smoky, restrained voice and an appealing Midwestern twang (yeah, Ohio folks can have an honest-to-God drawl; have you ever heard Robert Pollard talk?) Her music is a sort of gothic country-pop that, while not exactly bleak, is pretty dark.

Ferraby Lionheart opens the show.

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