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MUSIC COLUMN BY RICHARD MARTIN
Found and Lost?: As local bands go, Jessamine keeps a lower profile than just about any other. In fact, only a handful of people knew that the quartet of former Seattleites was crafting its latest full-length in a Southeast Portland home studio during the past year. Few attended the band's sporadic and increasingly rare shows. National magazines continued to run Jessamine features that referred to this as a Seattle band, and nobody in Portland was the wiser. What does it matter? you may ask. Well, a few weeks ago, Jessamine issued one of the best local rock albums of the year, Don't Stay Too Long (Kranky). Without getting too hyperbolic, it's the most stylish, atmospheric, mood-creating record to emerge from this city in '98. Beginning with Dawn Smithson's quavering wails in "Elsewards" and carrying through to the warmly orchestrated, organ and wah-wah-dominated finale "Hand Held," Jessamine sticks to a spacey, melodic script that's in a league with that most revered of electro-pop acts, Stereolab. Jessamine's history extends back almost as far as that of its vaunted Euro peer. Formed seven years ago in Ohio by bassist-vocalist Smithson, guitarist-vocalist Rex Ritter and keyboardist Andy Brown (drummer Michael Faeth came along later), the band earned positive notices for its self-titled 1995 debut and became a genuine hero to drone-rock fans with its follow-up, The Long Arm of Coincidence. But it was this early predilection for free-roaming jams that forced Jessamine to focus on sticking to more cohesive tunes this time out, according to Ritter. "Since we had rambled on for the last two records, we thought we'd distill it and make the songs short," he says. Ritter credits Smithson with taking the lead and writing compositions that relied on more traditional structure. "I was pushing for more of a pop format," Smithson admits. "We were into the last record, but it's not really that listenable. It doesn't keep your attention as well as things that are catchy." Don't Stay Too Long doesn't exactly abound with hooks, and the songs still stray into the six-plus-minute mark more often than not, but Smithson's influence is evident in the masterfully executed breaks that serve as segues between verse and chorus. When Brown and Ritter sound like they'd be perfectly content to pursue their hide-and-seek organ and guitar grooves into the wee hours, Smithson's earnest, undulating vocals (at times reminiscent of Cat Power's Chan Marshall) keep the propulsive "Pilot Free Ignition" from flying into the clouds and lend a spooky detachment to the prog-rock-meets-funk posturing of "It Was Already Thursday." Unfortunately, Jessamine won't undertake the usual touring and publicity blitz needed to alert the masses--or even its fellow Portlanders--to the record's release. Smithson has moved back to Seattle to attend apparel-design school, and the band has entered into that murky and disencouraging phase known as a "hiatus." Without too many people even knowing, it appears that the Portland music scene's gain also became a great loss. But at least we've got Don't Stay Too Long to show for it. Portland Postscripts: As part of its pledge drive, Oregon Public Broadcasting will broadcast Emmylou Harris...Spyboy, a filmed concert that took place May 31 at Nashville's Exit/In theater. Using the same band that appeared with her at the Washington Park Zoo amphitheater in summer 1997 (which includes hotshot guitarist Buddy Miller and goes by the name Spyboy) Harris riffs through old hits like "Love Hurts" and "Songbird" and material from her '96 Grammy winner Wrecking Ball. The hour-long special features a few interviews with Harris and extensive footage of her quartet's spirited if overly slick performance. It airs on KOPB-TV at 10 pm Saturday, Sept. 19....At press time, Elliott Smith's Sept. 18 appearance at LaLuna looks to be a sellout. The surging singer-songwriter attracted more than 500 fans to a Music Millennium in-store appearance last weekend, and rumor has it that he'll add an EJ's show Thursday, Sept. 17...Three of Portland's most promising female singer-songwriters have joined forces in Henpecker, an odd collaboration between neo-hillbilly Little Sue Weaver, ethereal pop songstress Lara Michell and folk-rocker Nancy Hess. The trio will debut 9 pm Friday, Sept. 18, at the LaurelThirst, backing each other on solo material and introducing songs written as a band. Gomez Scott 4
originally published September 16, 1998
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