Jesse Davidson Press Photo 1

Jesse Davidson: Three albums that changed my life

Jesse Davidson has been on our radar for some time now, but we feel like he’s really now found his feet in the murky sea that is atmospheric Australian indie-electro. His gorgeous lilt and smooth beats have won him fans across the seas, and he’s just released his brand new EP Lizard Boy, out this week (purchase here)! Having performed at festivals including Laneway and Groovin The Moo, not to mention extensive radio play and that incredible Childish Gambino cover for Triple J’s Like a Version, it’s safe to say that we’re not the only Jesse Davidson fans out there.

Considering his expansive and atmospheric genre-spanning sound, we wanted to learn a little more about the music that’s influenced Jesse. We asked him to write a little about three of his favourite albums – not necessarily his favourite or greatest albums, but those that really meant something to him.

So here, in his own words, are three albums that changed Jesse Davidson’s life.

FLEET FOXES – HELPLESSNESS BLUES

This was weirdly the first album I bought on vinyl and since I really didn’t have anything else to listen to I would just listen to this over and over. It’s one of those albums that I can always listen through completely, before that all I would ever day was play the songs I liked off an album and kind of ignore the ones I didn’t love, but the more I listened to this the more I liked the songs I used to think were mediocre. That’s probably not uncommon but I found it really interesting at the time. It’s really a great album, the perfect combination of lush instrumentation and arrangements with poignant lyricism.


 

RADIOHEAD – AMNESIAC
This was the first Radiohead album that I bought on CD (wow, retro right?) and ultimately is probably their most obscure. Today my favourite albums of theirs are still In Rainbows and Kid A but I hold a special place for this one. Considering the fact that I was twelve years old at the time and my prior CD purchasing had included Green Day’s American Idiot and whatever Eskimo Joe’s album was that had Black Fingernails Red Wine on it it’s safe to say that Amnesiac sounded batshit insane in comparison. It also opened my up to a bunch of really good music and Pyramid Song is still one of my all-time favourite pieces of recorded music (editor’s note – mine too).

SUFJAN STEVENS – COME ON FEEL THE ILLINOISE
A good friend introduced me to Sufjan Stevens in maybe Year 9 or so. It’s probably one of the greatest albums of time, in terms of pure songwriting ability, arrangement, and understated instrumentation. This was a life changing album for me in that it got me interested in music that wasn’t super depressing again (I’m looking at you Radiohead). It definitely has its sad moments but for every sad moment there is an equally as cheery song, which I really enjoyed. Also, the titles of the songs are great.

Tour dates:

SAT 28 NOV – GORGEOUS MUSIC FESTIVAL- MCLAREN VALE, SA
THU 17 DEC – THE BRIGHTSIDE, BRISBANE
(Tix here)
FRI 18 DEC – BANQUET @ THE WORLD BAR – SYDNEY, NSW
Tickets on the door
THU 31 DEC – NYE ON THE HILL – KERNOT, VIC