Jess Williamson - Cosmic Wink

The Guardian 60

(Mexican Summer)

“Tell me everything you know about consciousness,” goes the first of many deep-diving croons on Texas singer-songwriter Jess Williamson’s third album. The opening track, I See the White, is a reflection about time and mortality inspired by her dog’s first grey hairs, and fulfils the mystical promise of the album’s title, soft strums sent spinning into delirium by gentle shifts in rhythm and kisses of organ. Williamson has evolved as a writer from her early days as a 10-a-penny spectral folkie on 2014’s Native State and its slightly gutsier 2016 follow-up Heart Song. Now she sounds fully formed, her rich lyrics (“Was my cup so full I thought it was empty?” she riddles, koan-like, on the dreamy shuffle of Mama Proud) and the dark depth of her Chan Marshall-ish voice adding intrigue to these subtly crafted songs. Cosmic Wink charts a romantic epiphany from the beguiling, early Neil Young-ish feel and bright, sitar-like guitar tones of Awakening, Baby via the sultry rock of Dream State to the reverby swell and melodic twangs of Forever. “When I don’t know what home is, I can turn in to your arms,” she concludes on the gently erotic Love on the Piano, the cosmic resolving into the domestic with sweet grace.