Upon seeing that I was getting a CD from an artists or band titled Jessarae I quickly headed over to youtube to see what I was in for. You see I recently discovered an abomination called Jedward and feared for the worst for some unknown reason. Maybe it was because both names start with a J or because it seemed like two names crammed together. I don’t know. It was an irrational moment that I’m not proud of. In any case, I get to youtube and type in the name and up pops all these video’s of this very young looking kid. I cringe. I see they do a cover of Leonard Cohen and or Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah (I’ll let you decide). Nothing says automatic death then trying to cover this insanely beautiful and well crafted song. I press play. (Pretend you see me at my desk with the sound of angels floating through my headphones pulling my usual sneer into a big bright smile). This kid is good, and not just good, on the verge of great. Needless to say I spent the day looking at most of the videos on youtube for Jessarae, you will too. My review package could not come soon enough. I had to hear this CD.

Pilot was released at the beginning of December of last year digitally. I certainly never heard of it and the fact that I have three girls of varying ages that listen to all the usual radio fluff, I have to assume that the younger crowd hadn’t heard of it either, gauging the success of acts like Justin Beiber and Taylor Swift as contrast. Well, the reason might be that the album is not geared towards kids. Jessarae might be fresh faced but his music has a maturity to it that, combined with his amazing acrobatic voice, puts him on a road that does not include jotting down fluff for air time or putting on an image for fans. It’s funny that the first thing I clicked on was his cover of Hallelujah because when I listen to Pilot I hear a lot of Jeff Buckley coming through my speakers. The voice is so at ease and fluid, the guitar work here is both deep yet jam worthy, and the backing band (whoever they might be) put their best work forward as Jessarae’s ensemble cast. It’s a lot of jam grooves that flirt with or surpass five minute run times and lyrically the album transcends where first glance impressions would place Jessarae. If you enjoy listening to really great music you’re going to find your way to this album eventually. Is there room for improvement? Just a bit, but that’s to be expected from someone so young. The good in that is that it can only get better from here. I highly suggest checking out Pilot. Enjoy.