By the time you’ve digested Jess Williamson’s early-2014 debut, Native State—moodily droning electrics mixed in with slowly plucked banjos and impassioned vocal flourishes that vacillate between cooing, purring, tense restraint, and soulful emotiveness—you’ve effectively answered the question, “What if Cat Power had been signed to 4AD in the early ’90s?”
Now Williamson has released “Snake Song,” part of a split 7" single with RF Shannon—fellow Austinites who she recently toured the Southwest with. It seems the vast desertscapes observed between city gigs played a big role in the vibe, too, because the four-minute track stretches out with the desolate elegance of Ry Cooder’s 1984 soundtrack for Paris Texas.