Tobias Jesso Jr.: Shine

"The rise of Tobias Jesso Jr. feels vintage, the stuff of American dreams. Born in Canada, Jesso tried to make it in L.A. in the early 2010s, writing songs for others and playing bass; just when he gave up, a series of buzzy singles, released under his own name, caught the attention of a previously impenetrable industry. He made his 2015 full-length debut, Goon, in a bleary, nostalgic Laurel Canyon mode, brooding over personal hardships and slotting himself into a long lineage of L.A. singer-songwriters."

"Jesso's chronicles of dashed dreams served as his own last-ditch audition; he immediately became a coveted collaborator, writing for everyone from Harry Styles to FKA twigs and nabbing the inaugural Grammy for Songwriter of the Year in 2023. The fact that he hasn't made a follow-up in the past decade gives retrospective weight to his fairy tale. By sliding from the spotlight, Jesso appeared to claim something unimaginable in the 21st century: a happily-ever-after ending."

"Yet his second outing, Shine, doesn't break the spell-somehow, it makes it more captivating. Once again, Jesso writes from his actual emotions while also reflexively playing the part of bedroom balladeer. Shine sounds like a faded memory of his first record, which had full arrangements but lives in my head as a solo guy-at-the-piano song cycle. Here, the instrumentation is truly spare, besides a batshit percussion build on "I Love You" so surprising that mentioning it feels like spoiling a jump scare."

Tobias Jesso Jr. moved to Los Angeles and worked as a songwriter and bassist before breakout singles led to his 2015 debut, Goon. He became a sought-after collaborator and won the inaugural Grammy for Songwriter of the Year in 2023. He paused session work and waited a decade before releasing Shine. Shine uses minimal, homespun arrangements to foreground raw, demo-like intimacy and personal emotion. The album recalls Laurel Canyon sensibilities but strips back fuller production to present conceptual mockups and naked songwriting, punctuated by an unexpectedly intense percussion build on the track "I Love You."

Read at Pitchfork