upon time is no coincidence, Texas-born, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Jess Williamson’s fifth studio album explores both liberation and certainty. She said the album’s title came from her learning to “believe that things are going the way they were meant to go”, even when life doesn’t play out as planned. In the record’s 11 vivid, wind-blown alt-country songs, she finds herself reeling from the aftermath of a breakup, stifled by pandemic isolation, driving down country highways, dating in Los Angeles, and Texas. It depicts finding new love in Marfa. As she declares on her standout track “Hunter,” she’s a “real hunter,” subject only to cosmic timing.
Space has given Williamson a series of bizarre developments in recent years. In early 2020, Williamson was preparing to release his fourth studio record. magician, and tour the country — plans completely upended by the global pandemic. Around the same time, her longtime romantic partner and musical collaborator also left her and the Los Angeles cohabitation.The traces of that broken heart are already left time is no coincidence. The first song she wrote for the record, “I’d Come To Your Call,” begged, “Baby, don’t leave me,” Our love,” she laments. It slowly slid away… There’s nothing left to save. ”
Williamson also describes how she made herself small in previous relationships. “How I adapted and became so small,” she recalls in her “A Few Seasons.” In interviews, she said she felt that pressure in making music. “Before, I was trying to make it look like I wasn’t trying too hard,” she said. Guardian — she thought it would be “frustrating” to be too bold in her music, and thought her voice should be “sexy and breathy”.she heard time is no coincidence, it is clear that she put that conviction behind herself. In the chorus of “Hunter,” Williamson’s voice catches her breath, but a more natural, conversational narrative doubles up to make her sound confident and unwavering. On songs like “Tobacco Two Steps” and “God in Everything,” there’s a strong, raw earnestness to her singing. And while her portrayal of grief is cruel, her subtle contempt burns even brighter. A classic Texas “bless your heart,” but the work of a woman who knows to hurt her enemies deeper than ever with her fury. “You’ve been chasing spirits/And I’m still chasing their lights,” she sings on “Chasing Spirits,” before adding, “Now, who’s the greater mystic/And who’s in the bar? Are you winning the fight?” he asked a sharp rhetorical question.
The record has a sense of expansiveness, brought on by Williamson’s new perspective and production by Brad Cook (who also collaborated with Williamson on her and Waxahatchie’s Katie Crutchfield’s record released as Plains). be. The instrumentation feels considered and understated, focusing on Williamson’s work. voices that resonate. Williamson demoed many of these songs on an iPhone app drum machine, and in her studio Cook encouraged her to continue with it. It’s a steady, mechanical pulse alongside the album’s rustic steel guitar and banjo.
Despite my heartache time is no coincidence Both begin and end with songs about new love. The final track, “Roads,” is a hymn to attracting love instead of chasing it. “Find what is given freely, true love will come to you,” she says. As Williamson sings the chorus, the song’s final minutes wind up patiently—”There was a hurricane in my heart for you,” she unashamedly belts out—and then, Moving on to the instrumental outro, Sax gives her final words, confident that she’s done it all. she needs to say
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