Jess Williamson treads new territory on ‘Cosmic Wink’, her first release for Mexican Summer. Her second album, ‘Heart Song’, was a brutal portrait of dying romance, but its follow up is a blushing expression of intense and euphoric love.
But before romantic dissidents start to gag, there’s more at work here than just bold declarations of undying devotion over sweeping folk soundscapes. Throughout, Williamson explores themes of guilt, motherhood, sex, fear, trust and chronic self doubt - all within the terrifying but blissful realm of falling in love again. That balance makes ‘Cosmic Wink’ a heady, though deeply revealing and complex, valentine's letter.
I See White, Awakening Baby and White Bird are echoey, electric and leisurely-paced songs, featuring Williamson’s vocals at their most cool and sedate.
There’s a real aesthetic beauty in their soothing execution, but it isn’t until the album flips into the minor key on Wild Rain and Thunder Song, when her starry-eyed happiness is threatened, that the powerful character of Williamson’s vocals begin to hit home. The plot behind the music also begins to thicken.
“I know you said a thousand times I’m the only one, but when I look into your eyes I feel that something’s gone, who do you love?”, she sings evocatively on Thunder Song. It’s a slow, bluesy, climactic lament that injects some much needed drama and pain into the album’s love-drunk backdrop.
But the closers aren’t as black and white as happy or sad. When Williamson puts melancholic melodies to her exploration of love, ‘Cosmic Wink’ is at its most nuanced and impressive. Forever and Love On The Piano exemplify that, and conclude the album with a poetic cadence. “You love a woman full of questions and my searching heart won’t quit,” she sings. Also: “Something in your eyes means I’m home when I am homeless, and when I don’t know what a home is I can turn into your arms.”
You have permission to gag now, if needed. But there’s no denying that ‘Cosmic Wink’ is an incredibly intimate and well crafted album, and for Williamson, it’s an honest chronicling of love and its complexities. It’s an artful and emotional snapshot of true life, universal to all lovers.
This review has been amended to correct a factual inaccuracy in its opening paragraph.
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