Jess Jocoy: November 2020 Artist of the Month

 

Jess Jocoy

Such a Long Way

Jess Jocoy Music

 

Most female singers are sopranos, but I have a thing for women with low voices. Meet Jess Jocoy. This Seattle native dreamed of moving to Nashville and becoming a country star like Miranda Lambert. She’s made it to Nashville, but she might have to content herself to being another Mary Chapin Carpenter if for no other reason, her voice has too much depth to be Lambert. I also suspect her songs are deeper than the usual fare on the Billboard AAA charts. My suspicions were aroused the moment I heard “Existential Crossroads,” the opening song from her LP Such a Long Way. She calls it a “big picture” song, and it’s like a values clarification exercise” set to music: It’s a well-oiled machine, this American dream/Oh, I like the idea but it’s cruel and it’s mean and/She’s a thorn in your side but she shortens the night/And the love you found wasn’t love that you need.

 

That one is subdued, but Jocoy goes into band mode on “TheBallad of Two Lovers,” an unusual love song in that it’s a whopping crane dance of approach, back away, approach, back away again with an uncertain outcome. There’s a splash of old-time country in “Love Her Wild,” with lines like Try to love her wild/’Cause you can’t love her tame that makes it a supplicating companion to “The Ballad of Two Lovers.” Behind Jocoy’s earnest voice lurks some danger: …she’s pissed at the world and I swear/I saw her loading her gun. There’s also some of that in “Castles Made of Sand,” a father-son showdown over a young man’s need to carve his own identity rather than being a chip off the old block. Listen for changing colors in Jocoy’s voice that make the electric guitar interludes seem perfect counterpoints for the song’s acoustic wrapper.

 

I don’t know what singles have been released, but “Hallelujah” would be a great choice. It’s catchy, energetic, loud in places, and stretches Jocoy’s voice in good ways. Jocoy explains that her line When I give away all my hallelujahs is a metaphor for the things of ourselves that we yield for the wrong reasons, and a “call out for someone to bring you back to a good place.” You might also deduce that she is suspicious of easy answers.

 

By her own admission, Jocoy has trouble understanding romance and relationships. If you too have struggled, you’ll find some solace in her back-to-back of “Long Way Home” and “Aching to Feel Alive.” The first one explores the incompatible feelings of yearning to break connections yet knowing it’s probably a mistake; the second is a personal struggle with wanting to unlock a part of herself she’s not sure exists, though perhaps a spirit lover holds the key.

 

Two more outstanding tracks are “Numb,” her take on our current national divisions and how it leaves her as baffled and worn down as the title. After surviving the recent election, there’s something strangely soothing about “Numb,” though maybe it’s Jocoy’s voice. The album’s title derives from the refrain of “Hope" and it’s her pure songbird turn in which instruments sink into the background and let her warble like a robin on a sunny morning.

 

I suspect we’ll be hearing a lot more from Jess Jocoy. She’s adoit as both a solo performer and fronting a band. For the life of me, I can’t decide which iteration I’d most like to catch in concert.

 

Rob Weir