"I've dreamt the strangest things / Every night or so / For the past 3 weeks / I hope they're not signaling / Some kind of future / Where I'm flying off the highest swing..."
The time bending, fluttering folk storytelling of "Next To You", by Louisiana bred / Nashville based singer-songwriter Jess Kerber, draws you in from the get-go in artful ways. Beginning with a propelsive marriage of electronic beats and plucking acoustic guitar rhythms, with an emphasis on what feels like ringing F note as the cyclical connective tissue, you are floating and when Kerber's evocative voice falls in, intimate with long sustains and unique phrasings like the way she vocalizes 'dreamt' (that somehow sounds like my Dutch cousin) or draws out certain words adding a syllable, is absolutely beautiful and mesmerizing. The textures of her lyrics also peak your interest. They feel intimate like torn pages from a diary reformed to form poetry.
"Seven twin beds in two rows
Laughing before our doomKissing some cheek I forgot
Making my sister mad
While she stirs her sheets around
And my teacher won't stop talking
It won't stop shining
Brighter than the candles on my birthday
It's so good to see her one more time
While I sleep next to you
Next to you
Next to you..."
Layers of sounds like memories or blinding light through trees appear as the song rolls along and at about 1 minute and 15 seconds in a gentle drum beat with drones of ambient tones and other folk pop orchestrations (god, I love the winding bass lines at this point) increase the vast nature, the memoric atmosphere that might mix with your own like they did with mine. Kerber's vocal intensity increases too as her emotional patina thickens. Needless to say, everything works in concert, as the song dives deeper the drums shuffle harder and faint background vocals bolster all the threads in this beautifully dense tapestry.
Jess Kerber shares:
LINER NOTES (excerpted):
[Originally from Louisiana and now based in Nashville, Jess Kerber first picked up a guitar at the age of 12, and her precocious drive to experiment with different tunings and picking styles – influenced by kindred spirits like Joni Mitchell and Susan Tedeschi – led to the development of a unique sonic palette and authentic, personal approach to songwriting. Inspired equally by her upbringing in Louisiana and her studies at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, her compositions highlight the dynamism and depth of her gorgeous voice and thoughtful, humanistic lyrics, as well as the refined intricacy of her guitar playing.]
[While performing in and around Boston and Cambridge, Kerber encountered fellow songwriter Will Orchard, who quickly became a partner and collaborator. Working together, Orchard’s production prowess, intuition, and multi-instrumental talents helped push Kerber’s beautiful compositions to a new level of fullness, while retaining the disarming purity of the core elements. Kerber’s rich, emotive tenor and accomplished writing radiate a profound warmth, while varying arrangements of pedal steel, Wurlitzer, drums, and ambient guitar create the surrounding sparkle. The influence of her musician parents – along with a certain nostalgia for what she lovingly calls the “way apart from the rest of the world feeling” of the Deep South – shines through in the honest, straightforward, and timeless qualities of her composition.]
[While performing in and around Boston and Cambridge, Kerber encountered fellow songwriter Will Orchard, who quickly became a partner and collaborator. Working together, Orchard’s production prowess, intuition, and multi-instrumental talents helped push Kerber’s beautiful compositions to a new level of fullness, while retaining the disarming purity of the core elements. Kerber’s rich, emotive tenor and accomplished writing radiate a profound warmth, while varying arrangements of pedal steel, Wurlitzer, drums, and ambient guitar create the surrounding sparkle. The influence of her musician parents – along with a certain nostalgia for what she lovingly calls the “way apart from the rest of the world feeling” of the Deep South – shines through in the honest, straightforward, and timeless qualities of her composition.]
I look forward to dipping into more of Jess Kerbers musical history past and present.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://jesskerber.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/jess.kerber/
https://bsky.app/profile/jesskerber.bsky.social
https://www.facebook.com/jesskerbersounds
https://www.instagram.com/jess.kerber/
https://bsky.app/profile/jesskerber.bsky.social
https://www.facebook.com/jesskerbersounds
https://www.tiktok.com/@jess.kerber
https://felte.lnk.to/Jess-Kerber
Nashville’s Jess Kerber first picked up a guitar at the age of 12, and her precocious drive to experiment with different tunings and picking styles – influenced by kindred spirits like Joni Mitchell and Susan Tedeschi – led to the development of a unique sonic palette and authentic, personal approach to songwriting. Inspired equally by her upbringing in Louisiana and her studies at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, her compositions highlight the dynamism and depth of her gorgeous voice and thoughtful, humanistic lyrics, as well as the refined intricacy of her guitar playing. While performing in and around Boston and Cambridge, Kerber encountered fellow songwriter Will Orchard, who quickly became a partner and collaborator. Working together on debut album From Way Down Here, Orchard’s production prowess, intuition, and multi-instrumental talents helped push Kerber’s beautiful compositions to a new level of fullness, while retaining the disarming purity of the core elements. Kerber’s rich, emotive tenor and accomplished writing radiate a profound warmth, while varying arrangements of pedal steel, Wurlitzer, drums, and ambient guitar create the surrounding sparkle. The influence of her musician parents – along with a certain nostalgia for what she lovingly calls the “way apart from the rest of the world feeling” of the Deep South – shines through in the honest, straightforward, and timeless qualities of her composition.
Nashville’s Jess Kerber first picked up a guitar at the age of 12, and her precocious drive to experiment with different tunings and picking styles – influenced by kindred spirits like Joni Mitchell and Susan Tedeschi – led to the development of a unique sonic palette and authentic, personal approach to songwriting. Inspired equally by her upbringing in Louisiana and her studies at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, her compositions highlight the dynamism and depth of her gorgeous voice and thoughtful, humanistic lyrics, as well as the refined intricacy of her guitar playing. While performing in and around Boston and Cambridge, Kerber encountered fellow songwriter Will Orchard, who quickly became a partner and collaborator. Working together on debut album From Way Down Here, Orchard’s production prowess, intuition, and multi-instrumental talents helped push Kerber’s beautiful compositions to a new level of fullness, while retaining the disarming purity of the core elements. Kerber’s rich, emotive tenor and accomplished writing radiate a profound warmth, while varying arrangements of pedal steel, Wurlitzer, drums, and ambient guitar create the surrounding sparkle. The influence of her musician parents – along with a certain nostalgia for what she lovingly calls the “way apart from the rest of the world feeling” of the Deep South – shines through in the honest, straightforward, and timeless qualities of her composition.
unique vocal stylings, personal storytelling, dreamy, folk pop, singer songwriter, retro folk, folk,"Next To You" (Lyric Visualizer), indie folk, evocative, Jess Kerber, musician, orchestrated,
No comments:
Post a Comment