Jessica Risker Delivers Haunting Brilliance with “He’s Gone” – Song of the Day
Photo by Rachel Winslow
About Jessica Risker
Jessica Risker is a musician and visual artist based in Chicago, IL. From 2011 to 2018, Risker performed and released albums under the name Deadbeat. In 2018, Risker signed with Western Vinyl, who released the critically-acclaimed full-length album I See You Among The Stars, and began performing as Jessica Risker.
Risker will release Calendar Year, her first record in seven years, with Island House Recordings on August 1, 2025.
Risker composed Calendar Year throughout 2020, but she notes it isn’t exactly a pandemic album. She told Shindig! Magazine for their July 2025 issue, “I think of it more as a snapshot of a year in a life, with themes of human connection, motherhood, the beauty of our world, juxtaposed with some of our more problematic human tendencies.”
Calendar Year’s psych-folk sound is both timeless and modern. Engineer Dave Vettraino recorded the foundational tracks (guitar, drums, keys, bass) live to a Tascam 8-track reel to reel tape machine; vocals, flute, and other psychedelic layers were added using a blend of the Tascam 8 track and digital recording techniques.
Risker says, “Syd Barrett, Jessica Pratt, Broadcast, and Nick Drake were among touchstone references for this album’s spacey, psych-folk sound. We spun out a bit from the previous record, and made it richer, darker, more layered while staying true to introspective songcraft.”
Her bandmates are essential to her new music, including Joshua Wentz (synths/electronix), Brian Weza (bass), Maria Jacobson of Fran (flute and background vocals) and Steven Plock (drums). Chicago engineer Dave Vettraino recorded and mixed the album. Sam Cantor (Minor Moon, electric guitar) and Macie Stewart (Finom, strings) also feature on the album.
Risker’s previous work fluctuated between electro-psychedelic/experimental albums, instrumental music box lullabies, and psych-folk songs. From the dream-soaked harmonies of “Moon” to the neopsychedelic/garage rocker “Won’t You Meet Us In Vegas?,” Risker’s continuous genre shifting is inspired by dual desires to experiment with soundscapes made possible by modern recording techniques, and craft melodies, lyrics, and structures pared down to their most basic elements.
Calendar Year keeps one foot in the introspective folk songcraft of I See You Among The Stars while stretching ever further into rich layers of cosmic psychedelia and modern warmth. The result is a stunning and transportative album, which notes our all-too-human tendencies while holding a place for the world’s greater beauty.
At its core, Calendar Year is a wistful, melancholic meditation on the importance of human connection.
Links:
Official: https://jessicarisker.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicarisker/
