ALBUM REVIEW: Jess Williamson Puts Trust in the ‘When’ on ‘Time Ain’t Accidental’

Jess Williamson has always flirted with spiritualism in her songwriting, but also in the way she sings, her voice often vaporizing into the breathy whisper of a mystic about to divulge your destiny. The songs on her latest album, Time Ain’t Accidental, are, quite literally, tailormade for that voice and all its exquisite eccentricities. Sometimes it’s a pure belt, other times a delicate quiver, but it’s always enchanting and inviting. It is an especially powerful tool to deliver the kind of vulnerability baked into this batch of songs, which are also served by a newfound openness to expanding her idea of where she fits in. This refusal of genre limitation results in a stylish blend of country, pop, electronic, and celestial folk — something entirely hers, on her own terms.

Jess Williamson (photo by Jackie Lee Young)

Like its title suggests, Time Ain’t Accidental is about trusting the “when” of it all. For Williamson that means letting go of expectations and timelines, relationships that don’t nourish her, and those aforementioned limits on how a Jess Williamson song is supposed to sound. In the writing process following the release of her excellent 2020 album Sorceress — a stellar collection not properly celebrated in the cruelty of the pandemic — she toyed with a drumkit app on her phone, most of which remained on the final version of Time Ain’t Accidental. These buoyant and crisp beats, lovingly produced with pedal steel, banjo, synth, horns, and more by producer Brad Cook, lend an intriguingly modern texture to standouts like the title track. Its recounting of the dreamy, early days of a budding romance, plus the dusty gem “Topanga Two Step,” a song about the ways growth allows you to be more present, and “God in Everything,” which finds solace in loneliness and letting in those little signs of hope from the universe, make smart use of this sonic terrain.

If things happen how they’re supposed to, then Williamson’s right where she needs to be. No doubt boosted by the overwhelmingly warm reception to her 2022 “supergroup” collaboration Plains with Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield (ND review), a project that gave her a safe space to try a few different sounds on for size, Williamson is at her most confident. Here, in the sweet spot that comes with reveling in your divine femininity after giving yourself the patience and grace needed to harness it and arrive there, she’s comfortable looking back to move forward. This reflection, deeply intentioned, is heard on the tragic stunner about young heartbreak “Stampede,” and on “Hunter,” a catchy spark about the frustrating, determined search for something real and true. But mostly, Williamson has her sights set on what lies ahead, best expressed in the grounded beauty of “Roads,” the album’s closing number: “I have a love of freedom / I guess I always did / Was a runner as a child / And now I’m doing this.”

The tumult of emotions amid new love may be unpredictable, but Williamson is diving in head-first, ready as ever.

Jess Williamson’s Time Ain’t Accidental is out June 9 on Mexican Summer.