Today, Los Angeles-based musician Jess Cornelius presents “Body Memory” (Peach Fuzz Version), with an accompanying video. It’s an alternative version of the original that appeared on Distance, her album released last year on Loantaka Records (which will see its UK release on May 14, 2021), and follows her recent cover of the Eagles’ “I Can’t Tell You Why.” While the original track is driven by a catchy electro-rhythm, the Peach Fuzz version is gorgeously stripped down. Cornelius’ voice is poignant over reverberating electric guitar, as she sings of the lasting emotions that stem from a miscarriage. Peels of guitar and muted percussion gently filter in as the song continues.
“I’d started playing the song for myself in a totally different way – on echoey guitar instead of keys, with a dreamy, melancholic mood, and wanted to record it as a sort of ‘part two’. It’s like a new cover of my own song, I guess. When I started recording the demo I ended up capturing all these distant sounds that got all distorted in the process: a nail gun, a baby, police sirens, which I kept in for the final recording. I added harpsichord, synth and drums, and Jarvis Taveniere added bass during the mixing. The rolling toms and shaker in the outro added this new little groove and moved the mood again. To me this almost feels like a new song; ‘I was my own woman once’ is now less defiant and more reflective, maybe even yearning.”
Cornelius and her partner filmed the video in the Sequoia National Forest in Northern California. “I had the idea for the visual for a while – this hyper-artificial neon outfit against a lush forest backdrop. I made the dress the night before the shoot, using some high-visibility fabric I’d been given years ago. But when we got out to the forest, about half of the trees were dead – killed off by drought and bark beetles exacerbated by rising temperatures. The video inadvertently became a sort of environmental lament – about a different kind of loss and love.”
Watch Jess Cornelius’ Video for “Body Memory” (Peach Fuzz Version)
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Watch the “No Difference” Video
Watch the “Kitchen Floor” Video
Watch the “Body Memory” Video
Listen to “I Can’t Tell You Why” (Eagles’ Cover)
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[Thanks to Jaycee at Pitch Perfect PR.]
