If I had to pick one band that I would desperately love to reform it would be 90's indie darlings The Sundays. Their three albums, and in particular their debut Reading Writing and Arithmetic probably helped shaped my future musical taste and listening more than pretty much anything else, and Harriet Wheeler remains one of my favourite vocalists of all time. Back in 2014 there was exclusive news (bizarrely via American Airlines' inflight magazine) that having stepped away from the limelight nearly 20 years ago to raise a family, Harriet and her partner David were writing again and that maybe, just maybe there would be some new songs. However at this stage we can't be sure. (See what I did there, see? No...oh..ok.....here you go...click here)
Why do I mention all of this? Simply because after pressing play on Mother, the snappy two and a half minutes worth of tuneage from Portsmouth's Jerry Williams, the first thing that hit me was the similarity in the vocal delivery to Harriet Wheeler, especially during the verses. At this point it's pretty fair to say that unless the song was a steaming lump of turd, it was always going to become my new best friend of a song. Musically buoyant, but lyrically a little down in the dumps, it marks a slight shift in Jerry’s sound from when I first featured her to a more indie pop style. Expect your postman to be whistling this one down your street soon.
Jerry plays a free home town gig this Sunday at Little Johnny Russell's in Southsea, Portsmouth (get there early because she's on stage just after 8) followed by London gigs at The Finsbury (19th) and Birthdays (25th). According to Record of the Day (who also compared Jerry's vocal to Harriet Wheeler - they're not wrong) Jerry has been working alongside Dan Carey (Rae Morris, Kate Tempest, Bat For Lashes)' Nick Atkinson (Gabrielle Aplin) and most impressively Slow Club, a band that Jerry has often expressed her love for.
Jerry Williams - Mother
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