Reading Andy Davisdon’s excellent review of their new album at AUK last week reminded me about Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter. She appeared (at least as far as I was concerned) with 2002’s “Reckless Burning”. Produced by Tucker Martine, it was a fascinating, atmospheric album. Two parts americana to one part Radiohead. The opening feedback of the title song could have been a whole song for the Oxford band at one point in their career. Sykes’ voice has a weary, lived-in quality, and her lyrics follow that path. Song titles like’ Lonely Still‘ and ‘Drinking With Strangers‘ tell you all you need to know. She followed that with three more albums and pretty much constant touring up until 2011, when she fell silent, at least from a solo recording point of view, spending time singing with The Third Mind, until this year’s triumphant return.
Sykes told an interviewer: “Essentially, what we’re doing is kind of folk music, but the structures are complex. It’s like country/folk/rock with a psychedelic bent.” And that covers what you can expect from a Jesse Sykes song nicely. Calling your third album “Like, Love, Lust and the Open Halls of the Soul” implies a certain emotional maturity, and that record and its follow-up “Marble Son”, were more “sonically robust” in her own words. While “Marble Son” particularly was critically praised and certainly a fine album, I missed the delicacy of some of her earlier songs.
For a band which toured so prolifically, decent live video is quite hard to find. It’s either recorded in dimly lit rooms or inaudible. Fortunately, Seattle radio station KEXP have documented her throughout her career, with some excellent performances properly lit and recorded.
The songs from “Marble Son” came over especially well live, slightly toned down sonically, and restoring some of the emotional impact that, in my opinion at least, was lost a bit on the album. Her voice has never been a strident instrument, and she can seem to be singing to herself as much as the audience at times. There are some videos of a performance at a Paris club with guitarist Phil Wandscher on YouTube, where the backing is a couple of chords and Wandscher’s picked notes behind her hypnotic, almost tuneless words.
I’ve picked a song from “Marble Son“, ‘Come To Mary‘, which is about as rock and roll as The Sweet Hereafter get. There are still acres of space in the song at times, with her sympathetic band knowing when to underplay and when to dive into the chorus and guitar solo. The music has a fragility and rawness, which she has captured on her latest album. If reading Andy’s review has prompted you to dig deeper into Jesse Sykes’ catalogue, start with “Reckless Burning” and then “Marble Son”, and you will hear aspects of the new record in both of those albums, and by that time, you will want the other two albums as well.
