Lee’s Listening Stack – Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter – Marble Son’
Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter
Marble Son
Grey/Thirty Tigers
The Sweet Hereafter turns rather turbulent with this, the band’s fourth release. Singer Jesse Sykes and guitarist Phil Wandscher remain at the helm and their ethereal harmonies continue to dominate the core of the proceedings, but the slow burning melancholia that characterized their earlier efforts has given way to a clearer cosmic inclination. Sounding less like the Americana partisans they were in the beginning, and more like some psychedelic merger of early Grateful Dead and Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, they rumble their way through opening track “Hushed By Devotion,” transitioning from unbridled ferocity through a quiet hush and eventually the free flying coda that brings the proceedings to a close. The rest of the set retains a dreamy haze, Sykes’ eerie vocals providing a lilting allure even as the songs drift through the ether, cloaked in a hazy cosmic sheen. The trippy ambiance of “Come To Mary” and the circular spin of “Ceiling’s High” maintain that ‘60s sensibility, purveying an aura of smoke rings, incense and dayglo dalliances.
Once elusive and unobtrusive, Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter have obviously upped the ante with Marble Son. Nevertheless, there’s still a certain amount of circumspect, ensuring that the Sweet Hereafter remain as haunting as ever. – Lee Zimmerman
Lee Zimmerman is a contributor to a variety of publications, including Blurt, M Music & Musicians, New Times, Goldmine and Amplifier
This review appears courtesy of Amplifier, 50,000 Watts of Non-Stop Indie Rock http://amplifiermagazine.blogspot.com/