I will share a thought: I do love music when it manages to fascinate me a little. I looked at the album cover, featuring a young woman in impossible heels carrying a chainsaw, noted that she had opened for Jane’s Addiction, and thought that I really should give this one a listen!
Outside, it is impossibly cold, with some early November sub-zero temperatures, and both cats have joined me at midnight on the sofa. They may be in for a late-night musical treat!
Even better, the artist has instructed me to enjoy this album with a late-night glass of red. Well, lead the way!
A little background
A lifelong music obsessive, raised in a community of artists and creators, Jesse Jo Stark draws inspiration from country, punk, The Cramps, Merle Haggard and the B-horror underground that has helped shape her aesthetic.
Alongside her music, Stark is involved with Chrome Hearts and runs her own clothing line, DEADLY DOLL, which brings together her vision for design and the emotional world of her songwriting.
Her musical journey has seen her open for Post Malone, The Veronicas, The Vaccines, Guns N’ Roses, Cannons and Jane’s Addiction. She has also appeared at major festivals including Lollapalooza, Reading and Leeds, and collaborated with Eyedress for a performance at Coachella.
The Album
Released on November 6, 2026, MUSE is available across streaming platforms. Thirteen tracks and just over 38 minutes in length, this is an album that explores the complexities of relationships, emotional honesty and the experience of finding yourself.
As Stark explains, she isn’t particularly interested in making her feelings easier for other people to understand. There are moments of tenderness, but also anger, and she doesn’t seem inclined to apologise for either.
As she puts it: “Writing is like bleeding. It’s gonna be a bitch to sing these songs.”
That sounds like an interesting starting point to me!
Credit Pablo Gonzalez
My Review
“beautiful goodbye”
We open with just over two minutes of dark folk-pop. The acoustic guitar provides the anchor for a haunting melody, while the backing vocals have an almost siren-like quality. We only need the waves crashing against the rocks to complete the picture. A beautiful, atmospheric introduction.
“Chaos”
“Fuck you, I love you – you’re wearing me down,” sings Jesse Jo in this deeply personal ballad. Grunge-folk perhaps, with an intimate dialogue, an innate sadness and that familiar juxtaposition of love and hate dancing along the same chords. Dreamy and perfectly suited to a cold night indoors.
“Colorado”
This one takes us for a walk in the snow. There is a melancholic quality here, a fallen angel gathering memories in the cold. The crisp production draws us into the song, creating something close and confidential. A girl and her guitar telling us her tale of woe.
“the raven”
Our magazine has something of a connection with crows and ravens (see our poetry and the story The Land of the Red Queen in our Extras), so I was particularly interested in this one.
What we have is a hauntingly beautiful song. The vocal is crystal clear, delicate and seemingly taking flight. This is very much late-night music, perfectly suited to the hour. It’s now 12.30am here, and the house is asleep!
“she is a flower”
A gently romantic, yearning song, with a metaphor built around the idea of being a flower. “So open me up” is delivered with an edge of desire in this ballad about reaching out towards the object of your affection. There is a vulnerability here, but also a certain sensuality.
“hollywoods afraid of love”
This one sits us down around a campfire. A guitar is picked up, Jesse Jo plays us a few chords and reflects on what all those words about love really mean. Once again, we have that close, conversational style, with a song as delicate as a butterfly. A little musical intimacy that draws you in.
“muse”
The title track and single brings us to the album’s central theme. “You can have me any way you want,” sings Jesse Jo, but the lyrics explore the complicated business of using one another and the emotional consequences that follow.
The ideas drift and are blown along by a colder wind. It probably wouldn’t have been my choice for the single – I would have gone with “the raven” – but it did take me into Enya territory! There’s an interesting dreamy quality here, even if it isn’t the track that caught my attention most.
“sugar crash”
A little more upbeat musically, but still bittersweet lyrically. The sound rises like steam from a coffee cup in the cold air, before the song takes us towards sadder emotions and the inevitable fall of desire. There’s a pleasing contrast between the musical warmth and the underlying sadness.
“when I knew I should go”
“All these problems that I choose to ignore – all these people telling us what to do.” Now, isn’t that so true?
There are often too many people involved in a relationship when things start to go wrong. This is a sad song for winter, but perhaps that’s entirely appropriate when you reach that moment of realisation that you know you should leave. Sometimes the hardest part is admitting it to yourself.
“loves not dead”
Here the musical landscape changes a little. We have a dark, slow drum sound and a rhythm section that takes the song towards a more stormy atmosphere. Yet those vocals continue to soar with their dreamy quality. It’s a nice change of pace, adding some weight and texture to the album.
“Rip”
I particularly enjoyed the lyric, “I’m a cigarette when you’re trying to quit!” There’s a wistful cynicism about it, and in this short track, running to just 2:28, there is a confessional quality. It’s another little exploration of the self, delivered with a knowing nod towards the complications of human relationships.
“age of being honest”
At 4:40, this is the longest track on the album, and it gives us something a little heavier. There’s a light infusion of rock sitting beneath the sadness and emotion, and the arrangement gradually builds in intensity.
The track gathers momentum, eventually reaching a moment of real power, carrying that scream out into the night. A particularly effective piece that gives the album some welcome musical muscle.
“sundays call”
The album closes with Jesse Jo sitting down in the room with us, guitar in hand and another tale to tell. There’s a folk quality here, with something of the mountains and valleys in its musical landscape. A story about life and the road we walk, bringing us gently back to where we started.
The Verdict
MUSE is an album that rewards a late-night listen. It’s intimate, often melancholic and occasionally quite dark, but there is a delicate beauty running through much of the material.
Jesse Jo Stark has created a musical world that draws on folk, country, punk and alternative rock, yet doesn’t feel particularly interested in fitting neatly into any one category. The arrangements are often restrained, allowing the vocals and lyrics to take centre stage, although tracks such as “age of being honest” demonstrate that she can turn up the musical intensity when the occasion demands it.
There are thirteen tracks here, but the album never feels as though it is simply filling space. Instead, it takes us through a series of emotional landscapes: desire, disappointment, heartache, reflection and, perhaps, a little self-discovery along the way.
My personal highlights were “the raven”, with its haunting vocal, and “Chaos”, which has that wonderfully intimate, bittersweet quality. I might have chosen “the raven” as the single, but that’s a small editorial disagreement between the artist and me!
I also rather liked the fact that the album came with instructions to enjoy it alongside a glass of red. Sometimes an artist knows exactly how their music should be experienced.
Outside, the November cold continues, the cats have settled in, and the house is quiet. MUSE has proved to be rather good company.
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You can stream music from Jesse Jo Stark here
By Anna-Louise Burgess
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