New Jessica Says video and Melbourne show

I'll Set The Night Upon You is the debut video from Melbourne wunderkind Jessica Says. Filmed in stark black and white the video is a homage to the classic film If. Jessica revisits her past as a waitress, in a charming piece of kitchen sink melodrama. I’ll Set The Night Upon You, features cameo vocals by Sally Seltmann (New Buffalo) and is a keynote track from the acclaimed album We Need To Talk.

Watch it and weep indie-lings:


Jessica Says also has a show coming up in Melbourne this Friday. August 28 at Bella Union Bar at Trades Hall, supported by Kid Sam and Tragic/ Athletic. Jessica Says will include Geoff O'Connor (Crayon Fields, Sly Hats) on guitar, Ollie Browne (Art Of FIghting) on drums and Jessica's brother Nick Venables on violin. What a treat!

Jessica Says plays
Bella Union at Trades Hall, Melbourne
Friday August 28
w/ Kid Sam and Tragic/ Athletic
Doors open 8pm
Tickets available $12 bellaunion.com.au or phone 03 9650 5600
or $15 at the door if still available

We Need To Talk has evoked a strong response from radio and critics, including being featured as Album Of The Week on ABC Radio National, and named Album Of The Week by MX, Beat Magazine and The Brag.

We Need To Talk is out now through Unstable Ape.

Jessica Says launches in Sydney this weekend

"an intelligent and affecting soundscape" **** The Age

Sydney-siders! Jessica Says is heading east this weekend to launch her album in your city. The entire country has been won over by Jessica's debut so be sure to catch one of her shows:

WE NEED TO TALK’ SYDNEY ALBUM LAUNCH
Fri 15 May - Sydney, Hopetoun w/ Hugo Race (official launch)
Sat 16 May - Sydney, Bar Me w/ Caitlin Park

"eloquent, affecting and downright gorgeous" - ****1/2 Album Of The Week, Beat & The Brag
"a compelling figure... a phenomenal debut" Inpress
"a guilt-free musical indulgence" J Mag
"a disarming debut... an elegant and touching recording from an excitingly fresh local voice" **** MX
"delicate but swooning classical-folk-pop songs" Rave
"a magical release .. a ghostly and blossoming talent" 9/10 Rip It Up
"an intelligent and affecting soundscape" **** The Age
"windswept, baroque and tender" - Melbourne Magazine
"with sweeping strings, melancholic piano and a voice that is part Kate Bush and part Joanna Newsom... Jessica Says has set the bar very high indeed" Xpress

www.myspace.com/jessicasayssongs

Jessica Says 'We Need To Talk' on [iTunes]. Out now through Unstable Ape.

Jessica Says in Adelaide this weekend, Sydney next month

"an intelligent and affecting soundscape" **** The Age

A reminder that Jessica Says heads interstate this weekend to launch her album in Adelaide, and will be in Sydney in a fortnight.

WE NEED TO TALK’ INTERSTATE ALBUM LAUNCHES
Sat 25 Apr – Adelaide, The Metro Hotel w/ Megafauna and Fair Maiden (official launch)
Fri 15 May - Sydney, Hopetoun w/ Hugo Race (official launch)
Sat 16 May - Sydney, Bar Me w/ Caitlin Park

"eloquent, affecting and downright gorgeous" - ****1/2 Album Of The Week, Beat & The Brag
"a compelling figure... a phenomenal debut" Inpress
"a guilt-free musical indulgence" J Mag
"a disarming debut... an elegant and touching recording from an excitingly fresh local voice" **** MX
"delicate but swooning classical-folk-pop songs" Rave
"a magical release .. a ghostly and blossoming talent" 9/10 Rip It Up
"an intelligent and affecting soundscape" **** The Age
"windswept, baroque and tender" - Melbourne Magazine
"with sweeping strings, melancholic piano and a voice that is part Kate Bush and part Joanna Newsom... Jessica Says has set the bar very high indeed" Xpress

Jessica Says 'We Need To Talk' on [iTunes]

Jessica Says, Melbourne launch Good Friday

JESSICA SAYS
Melbourne launch of her debut album ‘We Need To Talk’
GOOD FRIDAY @ The Toff In Town
w/ DJ Jens Lekman, Dick Diver and Darren Sylvester

Just a quick reminder that the veritably talented Jessica Venables, aka Jessica Says will be launching her debut album in her hometown of Melbourne tomorrow night.

I'll Set The Night Upon You (feat. New Buffalo) [mp3]

'We Need To Talk' has made a deep impression on critics across the country:

"eloquent, affecting and downright gorgeous" - ****1/2 Album Of The Week, Beat & The Brag
"a compelling figure... a phenomenal debut" Inpress
"a guilt-free musical indulgence" J Mag
"a disarming debut... an elegant and touching recording from an excitingly fresh local voice" **** MX
"delicate but swooning classical-folk-pop songs" Rave
"a magical release .. a ghostly and blossoming talent" 9/10 Rip It Up
"an intelligent and affecting soundscape" **** The Age
"windswept, baroque and tender" - Melbourne Magazine
"with sweeping strings, melancholic piano and a voice that is part Kate Bush and part Joanna Newsom... Jessica Says has set the bar very high indeed" Xpress

INTERSTATE ALBUM LAUNCHES:
Sat 25 Apr – Adelaide, The Metro Hotel w/ Megafauna and Fair Maiden
Fri 15 May - Sydney, Hopetoun w/ Hugo Race

We Need To Talk is out now through Unstable Ape Records.

Jessica Says I'll Set The Night Upon You

If she wasn’t so modest about it all we’d have to say 21 year old Jessica Venables is a precocious talent. She’s already been so in-demand, working with New Buffalo, Jens Lekman, Micah P. Hinson, Sly Hats and Luluc, and now has her own album We Need To Talk out this weekend. We’re hearing a lot of music on the o/s blogs that swims in the same deep blue water as Jessica Says and dare we say we’re thinking maybe she sounds better than pretty much all of it? Evidence? Well take a listen to I’ll Set The Night Upon, which sees Ms New Buffalo (aka Sally Seltmann) repay the favour by singing alongside Jessica.

I'll Set The Night Upon You (feat. New Buffalo) [mp3]

Oh and if you are in Melbourne and Sydney, you can check out the live shows
Thu 19 Mar – Melbourne, Empress
Fri 20 Mar – Melbourne, Yah Yah’s
Fri 10 Apr – Melbourne, The Toff *ALBUM LAUNCH w/ DJ Jens Lekman, Dick Diver and Darren Sylvester
Sat 25 Apr – Adelaide, The Metro Hotel *ALBUM LAUNCH w/ Megafauna and Fair Maiden
Fri 15 May - Sydney, Hopetoun *ALBUM LAUNCH w/ Hugo Race

We Need To Talk is out March 21 through Unstable Ape Records.

Jessica Says dances about architecture

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture."

Jessica Says (21 year old Melbourne singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentatlist Jessica Venables), will be the first guest on the launch episode of Dancing About Architecture, a new music panel TV show that starts tonight at 9:30pm on Melbourne's C31.

Each episode of Dancing will culminate with a triumphant live performance in the "one-mic challenge" (which does exactly what it says on the label). And the best part? It's all going live-to-air! Jessica Says' will be performing the track His Mother's Ring from her debut album We Need To Talk, out March 21

Dancing will be hosted creator, Clem Bastow, and her co-panellists Tim Finney and Mia Timpano, produced by Renegade Films (the team behind RocKwiz). They'll be, well, dancing about architecture: talking about music. Whether it's the latest or the greatest, from CDs to DVDs and MP3s, music blogs to boutique 7" labels, Dancing wants to talk about it - and tell you all about it. The show will demonstrate that music criticism is much more than a buying guide: it is an art, and one that you will quickly grow to love.

Introducing Jessica Says

Ten Things about Jessica Says

1. Jessica Says is 21 year old Melbourne singer-songwriter Jessica Venables.

2. Her debut album We Need To Talk is to be released on Unstable Ape Records in February 2009.

3. We Need To Talk was produced by Geoff O’Connor (Crayon Fields/Sly Hats) with whom Jessica has collaborated in Sly Hats.

4. We Need To Talk features 10 songs written and arranged by Jessica and a very special vocal cameo by New Buffalo’s Sally Seltmann.

5. For the past year, she has been touring as part of New Buffalo’s band, providing backing vocals, cello and keyboard.

6. She has appeared on recordings by Grand Salvo, Sly Hats, Crayon Fields, Guy Blackman and Luluc.

7. She has also toured Australia as a cellist with Jens Lekman and Micah P. Hinson.

8. As a seventeen year old she was the lead cellist of the Melbourne Youth Orchestra.

9. The artwork for We Need To Talk features exclusive photography by Australian contemporary art wunderkind Darren Sylvester.

10. Jessica Says will next perform at The Evelyn on December 20th, both supporting Crayon Fields.

His Mother's Ring [mp3]

myspace.com/jessicasayssongs