Jess Williamson’s A Mile South of Heaven explores competing impulses to remain in Los Angeles or leave it behind. The Texas-born singer opens the album with a track borrowing the title of Joan Didion’s essay Goodbye to All That.
Strings, banjo and a stronger traditional country influence replace some of the programmed rhythms associated with her earlier breakout record. The sound supports a recurring contrast between the city’s pull and memories of her native Dallas.
The Guardian’s review finds both emotional weight and limitations in that more conventional musical direction. Its assessment treats the album as a continuing argument with place, rather than a completed farewell: Williamson is still in Los Angeles while writing about the attraction of another possible life.
