Jess Williamson's haunting debut LP,
Native State, is out now on Brutal Honest and is now streaming in its entirety at Bandcamp.
Fans in Brooklyn will have a chance to see Williamson perform for the first time since the album's release at Union Pool on May 21st supporting the legendary
Michael Hurley!Love for Native State:
"The mix, mic'ed close and buzzing with room tone, puts us too close. There's the rasp of her guitar strings, the sound of her thumb pads working the bass strings, and her hood-eyed glare: "Somebody there takes your vitals conveniently while you're on the phone with me/Well that's what I call fucking timing." It's all too close, and it's transfixing." Pitchfork
"[Native State's] a spare, personal experience that often finds Williamson with the simple accompaniment of a single instrument." NPR's World Cafe "There's a cinematic quality to the music of Austin folk singer/songwriter Jess Williamson that makes the seven tracks on the 26-year-old's debut LP, Native State, feel pivotal, whether she's singing in a gently aching voice over hypnotic instrumentation or howling in a falsetto during dramatic pauses." Under The Radar
"Jess Williamson, the Texas songstress who sings with the dusky manner of the singer-songwriter Lissie and the parched tone of the long-lost Karen Dalton." The Toronto Globe and Mail
"Her haunting singing voice, which twinges and aches throughout, infuses those tales with emotion that is at once unnerving and soothing." PASTE "Its title track, with folksy banjo, bass and a gripping middle section of mostly voice, feels a bit like a homecoming waiting to come, ending memorably with "When you’re gone, you’ll be tattooed under mountains on my arm," a mournful line like something out of Scott McLanahan’s latest elegy to Appalachia." The FADER
"It's hard not to hear the desert in her songs, built on solid beds of guitar and banjo, with
Williamson's distinctive mewl drifting over the top of her astral folk projections." Phoenix New Times "Hers is a magical gift, one that we’ll hopefully be treated to much more of in the future." My Spoonful "Replete with morose fingerpicking, an Appalachian twang, and husky vocals reminiscent of Karen Dalton…" IMPOSE
"It's a spare album, made not of Texas twang but of Williamson's haunting and delicate singing and playing." Tucson Weekly "Be it the lyrical playfulness or the careful picking of her banjo/guitar, you’ll find yourself wrapped inside of her musical web, happy to have been caught up in such moving music." Austin Town Hall "Jess Williamson knows a thing or two about painting a picture with her music—after all, she moonlights as a photographer in her hometown of Austin." MAGNET
"Like Joanna Newsom sans the shrill, her stripped sound and vocal vulnerability evoke a stark intimacy on this impressive offering." Austin Monthly Live at performances:
05.08.14 – Austin, TX @ The Mohawk w/ …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
05.21.14 – Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool w/ Michael Hurley 06.10.14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo*
06.11.14 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent*
06.14.14 – Portland, OR @ the Star Theater*
06.15.14 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile*
06.16.14 – Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore Cabaret*
06.17.14 – Boise, ID @ TBA
06.18.14 – Salt Lake City, UT @ TBA
06.19.14 – Denver, CO @ TBA
* w/ Jolie Holland | 