Jessica Sligter / A Sense of Growth(CD)

1.
Surrounds, Surrounds Me 06:18
2.
Wherever You Go 04:00
3.
A Sense of Growth 03:12
4.
The Dream Dealer 05:03
5.
The Smoking Tree 05:12
6.
Mercilessly Clear 05:42
7.
Run, Now! 04:03

“Sligter´s sinuous, torchlike songs shift from soft to harsh – not jarringly like the Pixies´ loud-quite template, but sneakily and softly. But it´s her voice, lyrics and the overall atmosphere that mark this as something special.”
Mojo Magazine (UK)


The dutch-norwegian vocalist and composer Jessica Sligter received glowing reviews for her previous album «Fear and the Framing» and for her debutalbum released under the moniker Jæ. «A Sense Of Growth» is by far Jessica´s best and most adventurous album so far. The varied, bold and more abstract sonic surroundings suits her songwriting and both intimate and dramatic presence extremely well.


«A Sense of Growth» was recorded in Seattle and was produced by Jessica and Randall Dunn (Marissa Nadler, Akron/Family, Earth) who also mixed Jessica´s last album. Eyvind Kang on viola and bass (Mr Bungle, Animal Collective, John Zorn) is one of many contributing musical guests, and has also written string arrangements.


There´s more synthesizers involved this time around, but Jessica’s characteristic vocals remain the primary focus. Both the arrangments and the overall sound of this album is more complex, adventurous and showcases Jessica´s accomplished production skills.


«On this album, musical elements I’ve worked with include more abstract sonic images», Jessica says. «In short, I’m still trying in a sense to deconstruct the format of «songbased music».»


Since her previous album Sligter has done many different collaboration projects and written commissioned works together with amongst others Susanna and Jenny Hval. Jenny Hval is also contributing with vocals on two tracks on the new album.


Several songs on the album was originally written for a concert Jessica did with Susanna at Henie Onstad Art Center in 2014 for the exhibition «We live on a star». The song «Mercilessly Clear» is based on a Harry Martinson’s novel/long form poem «Aniara».


released January 22, 2016