Jessica Winter - My First Album

‘My First Album’ arrives long after Jessica Winter first emerged onto London’s circuit of musical misfits, often accompanied by the flamboyant, the kitsch and the quirky - and it’s a scene she injects heavily into her exuberant art-pop. Across 13 tracks, Jessica flows between the likes of the Kylie Minogue-aligned ‘Aftersun’, the camped-up punk of ‘Got Something Good’, and the unapologetic classic rock theatrics of ‘Worst Person In The World’. The sense of cabaret that has characterised much of her live performances to date comes well into its own here, never overshadowing the musical quality but diving headfirst into its sheer randomness. At its best, it delivers some excellent off-kilter pop, with singles ‘All I Ever Really Wanted’ and ‘Wannabe’ both showcasing Jessica’s brilliant take on the mainstream. Together, they deliver a midpoint peak on a record that sits somewhere between concept and reality, a piece of arthouse work that could only emerge from a history as atypical as hers. It’s jarring, unhinged and idiosyncratic, in part akin to a musical at its most weird (not least on closer, ‘To Know Her’). Yet, for a performer as unchained to convention as this, it was never going to be anything less.