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Jun 25, 2020 By Christopher Roberts Photography by Kathryn Vetter Miller Jess Williamson

Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Jess Williamson released a new album, Sorceress, last month via Mexican Summer. Williamson has shared a new song, “Pictures of Flowers,” which features Hand Habits and is not found on Sorceress. Instead it’s taken from Mexican Summer’s new Looking Glass singles series on Bandcamp. The series is meant to celebrate “the human condition through remote connection.” Williamson wrote the song at the beginning of the quarantine and recorded it remotely with the aid of Meg Duffy (aka Hand Habits) on slide guitar, as well as mellotron, bass, and percussion from Jarvis Taveniere of Woods. Listen to it below.

Williamson has said she will donate 100% of Bandcamp profits from the song to Harriet’s Apothecary, which a press release says is “an intergenerational Brooklyn based healing village led by Black Cis Women, Queer and Trans healers, artists, health professionals, magicians, activists and ancestors. The intention of Harriet’s Apothecary is to continue the rich healing legacy of abolitionist, community nurse and herbalist Harriet Tubman.”

Williamson had this to say about the song in a press release: “‘Pictures of Flowers’ is a song that speaks to the fear and uncertainty I felt in the early days of the quarantine, as well as the clarity gained and realignment in priorities I’ve been experiencing over the last few months. I feel like a different person today than I was in January. Initially, being forced to cancel the tour dates in support of my new album had me reflecting on how to move forward with my career. What was the point anyway? My musical ambition began to feel hollow in the face of a global pandemic. I spent most days alone, going on long walks around my eerily quiet neighborhood. Then, when the police murdered George Floyd, these empty streets filled with protestors. This uprising has been a long time coming. From where I’m sitting, this seems like an apocalypse in the truest sense of the word—an unveiling. We’re seeing, firsthand, the People tear down the Tower to build new structures. ‘Pictures of Flowers’ means something different to me now from when I first wrote it. Here’s to continuing to learn, listen, grow, and evolve.”

Previously Williamson shared Sorceress’ first single, “Wind on Tin,” via a video for the track. “Wind on Tin” was one of our Songs of the Week. Then she shared another song from it, “Infinite Scroll,” via a video for the track where she played a runaway bride, but then there was a sci-fi twist. “Infinite Scroll” was also one of our Songs of the Week. Then she shared another song from it, album opener “Smoke,” via a self-directed video for the track. “Smoke” was also one of our Songs of the Week. When the album was released album track “Harm None” also made our Songs of the Week list.

Sorceress is the follow-up to 2018’s Cosmic Wink, also released by Mexican Summer. The album was written in Los Angeles and was mainly recorded at Gary’s Electric in Brooklyn. The finishing touches were put on Sorceress at Dandysounds, a home studio on a ranch in Dripping Springs, Texas, where Williamson recorded Cosmic Wink.

A previous press release described Sorceress in more detail: “Offering a deep-hued kaleidoscope of dusty ’70s cinema, ’90s country music, and breezy West Coast psychedelia, Sorceress weaves a woman’s wild love letters to a confusing present and uncertain future—with reflections on femininity and the pursuit of perfection, New Age beliefs and practices, critiques of capitalism and social media, southern and western landscapes, and intimate details of the lives and deaths of loved ones and friends. It’s a record about loss of innocence and acquired wisdom that’s self-critical, self-assured, and soul-searching. The Texan singer and songwriter makes deeply felt songs that orbit around her powerful voice, a voice that’s strong and vulnerable, big-room flawless, quietly ecstatic, and next-to-you intimate.”

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