Jess Hill

Dreamers,
The pace is maddening! Brilliant things unfolding with every turn!
First and foremost, a huge thank you to those of you that crawled out of the woodwork and into the bright lights of the city for the CD Release Party with Jeff Andrew on Thursday night! Thank you so much for the amazing level of attentiveness and cross stage dialogue. It was so lovely and heart warming to hear your voices piping up in response to stories between songs. Thank you for continuing to be a source of inspiration and connection in my life! I am ever grateful. For those of you who couldn’t make it out – follow the following links for an idea of what you missed and come to our lil’ tour kick off at The Prophouse Cafe on Saturday April 2nd.

Pictures from the release show by the fabulous Amanda Bullick!
A review by the very kind Kirk of Doom at 3am Revelations

Friday morning I ran away from the city to celebrate spring on Salt Spring Island. Spent two days and nights nestled in a cottage by the ocean on a rocky hillside covered in daffodils! It was a truly magnificent and dreamy experience. One I will never forget….in fact I can’t wait to go back.

Ah, but there is soo much more ground to cover before I will return to Salt Spring Island. This Thursday Jeff Andrew and I are in Victoria at The Event Center and on SUnday our tour begins with us playing at Voodoos in Penticton.
After that it’s onward and upward without looking back until we return to Vancouver on May 15th.

Hope to see you out there, somewhere!
For now I’ll leave you with another review of the new record. This one by local poet, performer and zombie lover, CJ Leon. Enjoy!

Orchard, Jess Hill (March 24, 2011)

Combining a flawless lyrical voice with innovative finger-picking guitar, Jess Hill sets a tender but solid foundation for the progressive but tastefully luxurious orchestrations by arranger-producer Aaron Joyce on her new album Orchard. Tapestries of sound and noise produced on instruments ranging from violins to bullet shells carry the listener on a magic carpet-ride of dreams though tracks like “A Common Bird” and hard-hitting choruses like “Leave me with the old-fashioned sinners, a bottle, and be quick to deliver this soul of mine.” from the title track rock the listener with live-off-the-floor energy. The album peaks with emotional intensity on the bass-dripping track “Gimme Your Ghost”, a plea of a war-tortured lover to her beloved to surrender his spirit to her rather than to their country: “The free and the mighty lined up at their gates, let them go in your place!” Dipping into the shadows of progressive folk and evolving greatly in complexity from her debut Road (2006), Orchard creates a strong statement of the potential for the organic use of studio engineering, the fusion of orchestration and noise, and the future of song-writing in Canada.

Dream vast and without doubt,
Jess

So the beauty of working with a number of talented people is that you get more than one beautiful interpretation of the work that was done collectively! With this thought I present to you another lil’ video.
This one edited from the same footage and concept Cindy Rose conceptualized and directed but this time edited by the man behind the camera Graeme Morgan.

Jess Hill Common Bird from GR Morgan on Vimeo.

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY…or rather NIGHT! “Orchard” is up for sale and out on the chopping block as of tomorrow at 9pm at Joe’s Apartment (919 Granville st.) I will be taking to the stage with my band of HIGH HOPES at 9:30pm sharp! Following me will be the clever and talented Jeff Andrew and Crows At Midnight with his new album “Hobo Postcards” rambling into the air. Following that the unclassifiable Taal Mala will be closing up the night, with a set that lets us step out in style.

I do so hope to see you there!

Dreaming vast and without doubt,
Jess Hill

In anticipation of the CD RELEASE PARTY at Joe’s Apartment on Thursday night I present you with this lil’ video directed by the wonderful Cindy Rose. It was shot on a cold, suddenly (and surprisingly) snowy day along the Fraser River. It features the fine camera work of Graeme Morgan, the styling of Tousled Dolly, the make up of Christopher Auger and a performance by Katana Barnett.