Jessica Risker - I See You Among The Stars

(This review first appeared in issue #79 of Shindig! magazine.)

Western Vinyl CD / LP

Empathy is an important part of any songwriter's toolkit, so Jessica Risker's experience as a licensed counsellor has no doubt helped shape a record made for one-on-one listening, and full of sympathy and gentle contemplation. Her latest LP marks a departure from the experimental rhythm and noise of 2016's Big Forever (released under her alias Deadbeat), opting instead for acoustic fingerpicking, almost whispered vocals and ambient beat-less electronic textures.

With a similar openness to Elliott Smith, Vashti Bunyan or Nick Drake, Risker's first-person narratives are rooted in the everyday but are deceptive in their emotional depth. At just over half an hour, I See You Among The Stars is a short but lyrically rich set of songs, so understated that they may struggle to be heard among the clamouring tower of new releases. A shame as it's often the quiet ones who have more to say. Modern folk at its most fragile.