PRESS
July 22nd, 2022
The Big Take-Over Magazine
”With ‘Great White Shark’, Jessie Kilguss follows in the footsteps of such iconic artists as Sharon Van Etten,PJ Harvey, Lucinda Williams, and perhaps even Kate Bush. Those artists have been able to take folk music, alternative pop, and singer-songwriter creations, call them what you will, and polish them into perfection, give them a rare poise, turn the good into the great, and that is exactly what is going on here.”
July 6th, 2022
The Spill Magazine
Song premiere of Great White Shark – “Stellar, pure, inspired and inspiring – Jessie Kilguss is an artist to watch in 2022.”
September 20th, 2022
New York Music Daily
"It’s one of the best albums of 2022"
September 16th, 2022
Amplify Music Magazine- Great review and premiere of the song What Do Whales Dream About at Night.
August 20th, 2022
Dave Franklin for The Big Takeover -
”Mann. Phair. Bush. Van Etten…And while it is easy to reference classic writers of an earlier era and suggest the influences of modern greats working in a similar field, as I have above, she builds up her own solid and unique reputation with every release. She establishes herself as a rival rather than a follower of such luminaries. Or, put another way, Jessie Kilguss becomes ever more Jessie Kilguss with every musical move she makes.
And “Sleepwalking Heart” is peak Kilguss. It is soothing yet dark. It is drifting yet purposeful. Heart aching yet optimistic. Nostalgic but of the now. Gentle but poignant. Honest and slightly other. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!”
September 23rd, 2022
The Record Stache-
“Sublime, serene, introspective and wonderfully imaginative – Kilguss ticks all the right boxes” (read more here).
September 16th, 2022
Nyrdcast - Feature on the song What Do Whales Dream About At Night.
September 16th, 2022
Dequeruza.ar - Feature on the song What Do Whales Dream About at Night.
September 27th, 2022
Dancing About Architechture - Fabulous NYC-based songwriter-storyteller Jessie Kilguss has released her new album ‘What Do Whales Dream About at Night?’ four years after her album ‘The Fastness’. (read more here)
September 2022
Musiczine - An interview (in Dutch) with Erik Van Damme of Musiczine.
August 20th, 2022
Ring Master Review - “What Do Whales Dream About at Night? is a collection of songs cast in Kilguss’ prowess as a storytelling lyricist and intimation weaving songwriter. The album sees her cast a sound marrying indie pop and folk with rock and Americana essences, a palette of flavours as rich as her imagination driven invention and a voice which equally enthrals. It is a release which had us fascinated and riveted from start to finish with moments which simply beguiled like few other moments this past year.”
August 18th, 2022
Selection Sorties - A feature on Sleepwalking Heart.
August 30th, 2022
Boston Bastard Brigade - “Within the melancholy of Jessie Kilguss's voice is a beacon of hope. Although she sings of losing everything in a fire in "Sleepwalking Heart", she nonetheless finds the urge to persevere through the rough parts of life. "Great White Shark" meanwhile finds beauty within something as gruesome as a man being torn to shreds by the ocean's most fearful creature. “
This article includes a playlist I put together that features my favorite collaborators and artists.
August 1st, 2022
Turn Up The Volume-
Thank you TURN UP THE VOLUME for including Great White Shark on your Best Knockout Tracks of July and for the kind words!
"Kilguss‘s voice is just amazing. Resonating somewhere between the magnific voices of nightingales Angel Olsen and Sharon Van Etten. Yes, that is amazing and Great White Shark is also a heartfelt sort of musing that those two emotive ladies love."
August 20th. 2022
Amplify Music Magazine - Canada is often overlooked when experts consider the singer-songwriters of the world, but it seems that at least one New York artist has taken inspiration from at least two Ontario artists – namely Mary Margaret O’Hara and Martha Wainwright. The former is a fact and the second is a deep suspicion or at least a testament to the solid and alluring songwriting style and performance of Jessie Kilguss, the artist whose music are thrilled to share with you today.
July 2022
Analogue Trash - A great interview with England’s Analogue Trash.
August 20th
El Santo Del Rock - Review in Spanish. According to Google translate here is a snippet. “Sleepwalking Heart is a reflection on certain types of ghosts and how their exorcism, as a process aimed at making peace with our past, turns them into avatars of our existence as a reminder that those who play and resonate with harmony in our existence they eventually become part of who we are until the end of our days.” (Read the full review in Spanish here)
August 20th, 2022
Nyrdcast - Feature on the song Sleepwalking Heart.
November 29th, 2019
New York Music Daily
Thank you New York Music Daily for the great review of my show at the 11th Street Bar last week! You can read the review here.
February 27th, 2019
The BigTakeover
Thanks to The Big Takeover for premiering the video for my song Edge of Something and for the great write-up which you can read here.
June 24, 2018
New York Music Daily
“Another triumph for one of the most unselfconsciously brilliant tunesmiths to emerge from this city in recent years and a strong contender for best rock record of 2018.” Read the full review here.
June 27, 2018
Aquarian Weekly
“A force to be reckoned with.” Read the full review here.
May 28, 2018
Here Comes the Flood
“Kilguss’ fifth album is her best so far. The Fastness is like a favourite shirt, a perfect fit that is been around for years in your wardrobe and an item that you will wear for many years to come.” Read full review here.
June 2018
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“The Fastness is artfully beautiful, full of radiant harmonics, stylish rhythms, and Jessie Kilguss’ enchantress-like tones. Imaginative and numinous…”Read full review here
June 2018
BabySue
“Jessie has a wonderfully resonant voice that transcends speakers and earphones. She’s one of those vocalists who doesn’t merely sing. When you hear her voice, you get the feeling that she’s speaking to you directly.” Read more here.
May 23, 2018
Celeb Mix
Song premiere and great review on Celebmix. “Without a doubt, Kilguss has it going on. “The Master” is splendidly evocative.” You can read the whole review and listen to the song here.
May 18, 2018
Goldmine Magazine
“The Fastness, is flush with moody yet mesmerizing melodies, a sensory display of emotion and intrigue conveyed through each of its ten beguiling tunes. The stated theme of the album is the direct connection between travel and transition, manifest not only in our temporal world, but through life itself as it traverses in its entirety, connecting culture and consciousness to death and rebirth. Those are heady concepts to be sure, but it’s a credit to Kilguss’ prowess that she’s not merely content to simply create some pleasing aural imagery. Rather, she uses her songs to probe possibilities that lie just below the surface, allowing them to resonate in ways that allow for greater interest and intrigue…” Read the whole review by Lee Zimmerman here.
June 28, 2017
Lit Hub
Susan Hwang (Bushwick Book Club Founder) and I were interviewed by Matt Grant for his article in Lit Hub about One Book, One New York.
December 9th, 2016
New York Music Daily
I love New York Music Daily! Here’s a great review of our show at the American Folk Art Museum. “…With her clever wordplay and understatedly anthemic sensibility, Kilguss’ closest comparisons are Elvis Costello and Leonard Cohen, the latter being her biggest influence…That voice is a magical instrument, with a reflecting-pool clarity and a soaring range matched by minutely nuanced attention to subtle details…” Read full review here
“…this is a finely-wrought, deep, dark valentine of a record, that with luck, will lure listeners who still believe in the well-crafted song…” (read more here)
Featured in a piece on country music coming from Brooklyn, alongside amazingly talented fellow Brooklynites, Terry Radigan and the Lone Bellow.
” Longing is a major theme on Carroll Gardens Americana songwriter Jessie Kilguss’s arresting new record “Devastate Me” — notably her longing for the big starry skies above the farm she grew up on in Massachusetts. ” ( read more here)
WNYC Radio
Featured as the Gig Alert on Soundcheck on WNYC! Check it out here.
November 8th, 2015
Great review of our show at Hank’s Saloon in July. Read here.
“Kilguss is as brilliant a singer as she is a tunesmith. Her speaking voice alone has more liveliness and color in it than most people can evoke singing at full throttle – there’s a rippling undercurrent of unselfconscious joy, as if she’s got an irresistibly funny secret to share.” (Read full review here)
December 28, 2014
“…This is a record to draw solace from, to be comforted by, you listen to it and realise that others suffer the irks of modern life – just that Kilguss can articulate and exorcise them so much better than the rest of us…” (read the entire review here)
September 8, 2014
New York Music Daily
Happy to be included in New York Music Daily’s best concerts of 2014 list, their 50 Best Songs of 2014 list and their 50 best albums of 2014 list.
November 26, 2014
“The best New York rock show of 2014 was a couple of weeks ago at Bowery Electric – there’s no way there’s going to be anything this good coming up in the next few weeks, end of story… Kilguss has one of those voices you hear maybe once every ten years: it’s that affecting, and sad, and unselfconsciously deep…Her new album is titled Devastate Me, but ultimately it’s the listener who’s devastated – in a good way. “(read more)
November 5th, 2014
” What’s the likelihood that two of the best albums of 2014 would be released within an hour of each other on the same night at the same venue? Unlikely as that might seem, it’s happening this Nov 11 at Bowery Electric when dark Americana songwriter Jessie Kilguss kicks off the night at 8 PM with the album release show for her latest one, Devastate Me…And her crowd has the good luck to be able to stick around and see Ward White …” (read more here)
November 4th, 2014
“…A former actress, Kilguss has redirected her passion into a fluid and poised record. Her flawless lyrical and melodic aesthetic relays uncompromising emotion in a light and flowing style.” (read more here)
October 30, 2014
Guitar World/Acoustic Nation
“Today we’re premiering “Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight,” by Jessie Kilguss. This track from her upcoming album Devastate Me is a sweet spoken reminiscence of a more simple childhood. Kilguss artfully pulls us into her wistful nostalgia with a bit of twang and a strummy, well arranged instrumental accompaniment. (read more here)”
October 9, 2014
“…Kilguss is one of those rare singers that can deliver a song with heartfelt intimacy, pulling the listener in, with great lines like “If you want a happy ending, it depends on where you stop your story” in Red Moon. “ (read more here)
April 23, 2014
New York Music Daily
“…Kilguss and her four-piece band adjusted effortlessly to the spacious sonics there (American Folk Art Museum) and brought down the lights, raising the menacing intensity that runs beneath the surface of her songs.” (read more here)