Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter last visited Dublin in 2024, sharing the stage with the drone metal band SUNN))) at the plush National Concert Hall. They performed as a three-piece on that occasion, Sykes and her musical and songwriting partner, Phil Wandscher (former guitarist for Whiskeytown and Nada Surf), were joined by Bill Herzog on bass guitar. Tonight’s show is better suited to a more intimate venue. Sykes sings and plays acoustic guitar, accompanied by Wandscher on electric guitar, harmonica, and backing vocals. The performance is played to pin-drop silence.
FOREVER, I’VE BEEN BORN, released in 2025, was the first album in over a decade from the cosmic Gothic folk/country artist. As Sykes explains this evening, the long gap was a challenging time during which she faced mental struggles, cared for her elderly mother, and endured other hardships. The album's recording began in 2016, and the material, described by her as “sombre and about extremes, “reflects the difficulties and exhaustion experienced during its making. Sykes' trademark themes and fascination with death and the afterlife appear on the album. However, as the title suggests, melancholic though it is, it also rejoices in rebirth and renewal.
Despite recovering from losing her voice earlier in the tour, Sykes is in fine voice tonight, aside from a few coughs. Opening the set with Hard Not To Believe from their 2007 album LIKE LOVE LUST & THE OPEN HALLS OF THE HEART, they follow with Be It Me Or Be It None, which seamlessly merges into Winter’s Empty Pages, the first inclusion from their new album. The marriage of Sykes’ delicate and otherworldly vocals and Wandscher's guitar skills is quite unique, and the selections from the latest album recreate the ebb and flow and intimacy of the studio recordings. They include Dewayne, and the title track, the former of which Sykes says was inspired by the documentary film Streetwise, which chronicled the plight of homeless teenagers preyed on and abused in Seattle and the subsequent cry for help and suicide by the song’s character. Also performed from the new album is (‘’Another one about death of course’’) is Feather Tresure.
Selections from the back catalogue include Doralee and the stunning Grow A New Heart, the trance-like closing track from OH, MY GIRL. The show ends with Wooden Roses from their MARBLE SUN album, where Wandscher extends the studio version with a dazzling display of fuzzy guitar, pedal, and feedback mastery.
Few, if any, can deliver such bleak, haunting and often menacing themes as eloquently and with such passion as Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter. Combining that skillset with their trademark hauntingly lonesome sound was a joy to behold this evening.
Review and photography by Declan Culliton