Jill Jack

Jack has become one of the few musicians who has managed to walk the tightrope between hardworking ubiquity on the live circuit and critical and popular consistency. This is no doubt at least partially due to her stylistic versatility and the raw emotion of her gifted voice. Of late, the Jill Jack who has got music lovers abuzz fronts a dynamic and deeply symbiotic band of musicians that includes, at its core, multi-instrumentalist Billy Brandt. It's a partnership that extends from the live and recorded realm into the equally crucial business arena, too. Brandt is the head of Drum Dancer Records, a local label with a true love of music, and spreading it far and wide is its driving principle. All the evidence you'll need can be found on Too Close to the Sun, Jack's follow-up to her acclaimed debut. Too Close delivers the same life-tested insights that won her so many admirers, but Jack has added a richness of instrumentation that wows not by overindulging, but by picking exactly the right moments, instruments and textures to carry her voice, which soars like the alluded-to Icarus but never falters.