Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter
My life is going by at an insane speed – as lives tend to do. I’ve been here just long enough to have almost forgotten where it is I really came from, or maybe it’s that I’ve been here long enough to have learned how to let go of “that” constant longing for where I came from. I’ve started to love people I once disliked or even thought I hated, and I have stopped loving some that I thought I could never be free of. All that said, there is still a long way to go and I am just so grateful to be here—and grateful to be creating music with the people I hold dearest to my heart. I met Phil Wandscher in 1998 in a dive bar back when Seattle still had dive bars (how I miss those times!). I think I knew instantly upon meeting him that my life would change forever – just a gut feeling I guess, but i was right! Together, he and I have been lucky enough to spend our musical partnership with a group of really great, talented people – some who have stayed, some who have left – but who will never really be “gone.”
In 2002 we christened our “collective” Jesse Sykes And The Sweet Hereafter. Since then,we have criss-crossed the country countless times, crossed the pond to Europe, had times that I’ll remember for the rest of my life, and we’ve been blessed with a much loved, loyal audience. The past has been magical, but all I’ve really been thinking about for the last year and a half is our latest record “Like, Love, Lust & The Open Halls of the Soul”. We were trying to capture some pretty ephemeral stuff on this album—love and fragile human emotion, the 21st century’s strange combination of swagger and vulnerability—and the feeling of a tight knit group of friends coming together and sharing music.We are very much looking forward to spending the next year on the road and seeing the people and places that we’ve been missing, and hoping that, at least for some people out there, this new album is (or becomes) a companion of sorts, just like it’s been for me and the band for the last several months. Hope to see you soon! J.S.
-MOJO-FOUR STARS
-UNCUT-FOUR STARS
SPIN FOUR STARS
“Her best record yet. The songs are simultaneously catchier and darker. Her voice has grown deeper, richer, and spookier, alternately evoking Cat Power, Grace Slick, and Karen Dalton.”—Paste FOUR STARS
“A document of a band in full command of its powers.Most noticable though, is the continued evolution of Sykes’ singing and songwriting…With “Like,Love,Lust And The Open Halls Of The Soul” she’s served up her first masterpiece”.-DALLAS OBSERVER
“This is folk rock for the 21st century”-METROLAND,Albany,NY
“Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter manage to build a sepia toned masterpiece from inside the framework of country- noir.Thats the sum,but the genius is in the parts”-SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN”
“Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul shows a band not half-awake, but all-consumed-even enraptured-by its own spacious, apparitional soundscapes, moving deliberately, patiently, pensively through 12 tracks of transcendental western balladry and country-rock.” – American Songwriter
Until now singer- songwriter Jesse Syke’s deep, dusky vocals have been mostly showcased in the lonely country-tinged ballads she perfected with her band The Sweet Hereafter. But on their latest album, she veers from countrified melancholy to more openly embracepop,rock, orchestral folk and psychedelic influences-and the results are stunning. The Album’s highlights are the Neil Young-influenced “LLL,” which finds Sykes and the band in rare rock-out mode, and “You Might Walk Away,” a shiny pop nugget of a tune that recalls Vancouver,B.C. indie popsters The New Pornographers. Sykes hasn’t completely abandoned her gothic cowgirl roots, but her willingness to experiment with other genres keeps her sound fresh and makes her one of Seattle’s most relevant musicians. (Chris Clayton)Seattle Magazine
“Forget the usual alt-country tag-this is simply a wonderful record!”-Q
In stores now!!
to hear some of the new album “Like, Love, Lust & The Open Halls of The Soul” Go Here… http://jessesykes.barsuk.com/ecard/
