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 several times, had the honor of collaborating with bands such as SUNNO))), BORIS ( i wrote the lyrics, melody and sang the song "The Sinking Belle") Mount Analog and avant- garde composer Eyvind Kang. I've had times that I'll remember for the rest of my life. 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.
voted one of the top albums of 2007 in Artforum, Harp, Paste, Amazon and others....
-MOJO-**** UNCUT-**** SPIN - ****
On their third offering... the Sweet Hereafter are stretching themselves, incorporating different textures, sonics, and even song structures to build bridges for that understated, intensely expressive voice to articulate a poetic view that's decidedly subterranean and perhaps even sublingual.... this is the most satisfying offering from Sykes and her band yet. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
"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 sounds less like a performer and more like a sage. Completely overpowering.” - Magnet
"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
Sykes' voice is an unedited, unforced and completely un-self-conscious hallway through harrowing vulnerability, a cavern of subtle hues and the drip, drip, dripping of time and experience (time happens; life teaches). It travels through twilight corridors of natural composition (hope), decay (despair) and evolution (resignation). The closest comparable emotional exposure is found in the voice of Shannon Wright, but their music hasn't an iota in common. -TUSCAN WEEKLY
"“More intoxicating than ever . this is simply a wonderful record!"-Q ****
“Her songs are reveries on loss, and they’re equal parts solace and clear-eyed melancholy.” - The New York Times
to hear some of the new album "Like, Love, Lust & The Open Halls of The Soul" Go Here... e-card
Also available at all fine record stores or though our label Barsuk Records is the debut album "Reckless Burning" - ****Uncut ****MOJO and the second album "Oh, My Girl"
order LIKE LOVE LUST vinyl here www.southernlord.com
for european booking inquiries:
Steven Thomassen [email protected]
www.toutpartout.be
USA is Frank Riley at High Road [email protected]
Download "Gentleness Of Nothing" Now for $4.99
Download "Reckless Burning" Now for $8.99
Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter live at Paradiso in Amsterdam
Be it me or be it none - Jesse Sykes.. a video By Erika Rosen
The Air Is Thin

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