“Spellbound music, rapt in fatalism and sorrow” -Jon Pareles, The New York Times
“You won’t find a more haunting voice than Jesse Sykes’… ” –Falling James, LA Weekly
“Psychedelia as communal creation, psychedelia as mystical quest, psychedelia as a roiling tangle and psychedelia as a euphoric, entranced sprawl are all encompassed in the music of Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter…There’s nothing neo- about this band’s psychedelia. – Jon Pareles, The New York Times
“alternative country, no…more like alternative universe.. a sprawling psyche rock vision…” –Spin
“Marble Son is one of the best albums we’ve heard around the MAGNET office so far this year.” –Magnet
“This is a complex, fascinating record that punches the shoulder for attention. As subtle as it is hypnotic, mixing delicacy with confidence and hope with fear…. unlock your senses, and wrap yourself in this intricate web of aural imagery” – Consequence Of Sound ****
“flush with cavernous sonics and complex soundscapes, it’s 58 minutes of aural cinema for the ears and mind” –TONE Audio
“Whether the sonic setting is one of doomy distortion or fragile fingerpicking, Sykes remains a truly unique vocalist whose dusky voice is capable of imparting a transcendent, almost spiritual quality to almost any tune it touches.” –All Music Guide
“What do Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter “sound” like? That’s your question? They sound…worthy. Worthy of your time, your ear, your dedicated listening to an hour of nearly perfectly crafted and daring music making. If you had to sum it up, if you had to tag it (as it were), it would be the sound of a beautiful, graceful, injury within.” –A-line Magazine
“It’s (Marble Son) the child of some Faustian pact between Karen Dalton and Jimmy Page born at some secret southern crossroad. The counterculture furies of ’69 reborn, eternally “hiding from the daylight.” You’ll be drawn to the glow of their bluesy-country embers, but eventually you’ll find yourself miles from home, dancin’ into the flames, out of your head, covered in warpaint and doing a witchdance. It’s true, throughout its hour-long spell, I had the unmistakeable feeling I was being groomed for some devious southern death cult and what’s worse, I liked it. Come, join us.” – PopMatters
“a country-western, psych rock, shamanic, folk masterpiece” – The Stranger
“A triumph, in a word” – The Line of Best Fit…UK
“Terrific…A roaring, psychedelic tempest.” – Uncut **** (4 out of 5 stars)
“Marble Son is like a Tesla coil with self-will.” – Peter Sjöblom, Tidningen Kulturen…SE
SPIN – * * * * (4 out of 5 stars)
MOJO – * * * * (4 out of 5 stars)
UNCUT – * * * * (4 out of 5 stars)
Q – * * * * (4 out of 5 stars)
“This is folk rock for the 21st century.” –Metroland, Albany, NY
“Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter manage to build a sepia toned masterpiece from inside the framework of country-noir. That’s the sum, but the genius is in the parts.” –San Francisco Bay Guardian
“Her best record yet. The songs are simultaneously catchier and darker. Her voice has grown deeper, richer, and spookier, alternately evoking Cat Power, Grace Slick, and Karen Dalton.” –Paste * * * * (4 out of 5 stars)
“Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul shows a band not half-awake, but all-consumed-even enraptured ” –American Songwriter
“Sykes sounds less like a performer and more like a sage. Completely overpowering.” –Magnet
“It’s not folk-pop, or what’s become known as Americana, or even country or the blues. Instead, it’s personalized with gorgeously voiced confessional pieces, with Sykes maintaining her high energy level throughout the CD- while her band operates behind her with a keen mix of sophistication and restraint. –Nashville City Paper
“A document of a band in full command of its powers.Most noticable though, is the continued evolution of Sykes’ singing and songwriting…With “Like,Love,Lust And The Open Halls Of The Soul” she’s served up her first masterpiece”. –Dallas Observer
“Like, Love, Lust and the Open Halls of the Soul” should go down as Seattle’s first great, lasting album of the new millennium.” –SOUND Magazine
“On their third offering… the Sweet Hereafter are stretching themselves, incorporating different textures, sonics, and even song structures to build bridges for that understated, intensely expressive voice to articulate a poetic view that’s decidedly subterranean and perhaps even sublingual…. this is the most satisfying offering from Sykes and her band yet.” –Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
“Sykes’ voice is an unedited, unforced and completely un-self-conscious hallway through harrowing vulnerability, a cavern of subtle hues and the drip, drip, dripping of time and experience (time happens; life teaches). It travels through twilight corridors of natural composition (hope), decay (despair) and evolution (resignation).” –TUSCAN WEEKLY
“Hypnotic in places, even narcotic, “Oh, My Girl” continues to reverberate long after it ends. Like the Velvet Underground’s third record or Bob Dylan’s Desire, what resonates after “Oh, My Girl” fades isn’t any specific moment, but the feel of the world created in it and by it.” MAGNET
“This is the album the Scud Mountain Boys were too suicidal to make” –Pitchfork (Oh, My Girl)
“The sound is as uncompromising and challenging as that of any “experimental” band…” – Monica Kendrick, Chicago Reader
“…OH, My Girl is the soundtrack to loneliness, and rarely has a record sounded so quietly riveting or intense… a beautiful heartbreaking album. Country gothic at its bleakest and most starkly poignant…” –Andy Whitman, PASTE * * * * (4 out of 5 stars)
“It’s not often that one comes across a voice as haunting as Jesse Sykes’. With a deep, smoky resonance, that in some ways recalls Marianne Faithful, Sykes manages to convey even more wasted resignation, making this record an instant melancholia classic.” –Exclaim
“…lyrics that gnaw on life’s mysteries and yearn for deeper human contact. Her songs are about seeking wisdom you can’t find in books, and celebrate a connection to the Earth in language that has practically vanished from pop song craft…” –Tom Moon, Philadelphia Enquirer 4/ 4 stars (Oh, My Girl)
“…an alt-country album in the minds of some… But that reductionist impulse should be resisted; Oh, My Girl occupies a different plane
than simple “Americana.” It’s music noir, encompassing the dark and gorgeous sadness that comes with being human.” Tuscan Weekly (Reckless Burning)
“Is David Lynch making a new movie? If so, Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter have already recorded the perfect soundtrack for it”… –James Reed, The Boston Globe
“The stately motion of her music serves as a looking glass, letting you peer into the mysterious heart of the song..”- The Guardian, UK
Voted one of the top albums of 2007 in Artforum, Harp, Paste, Amazon and others….-(Like, Love, Lust…)
