JAY MARIE, COMFORT ME

Mess Esque is an Australian duo who sound like they literally dreamed themselves into being, and might even still be in the dream that made them! Helen Franzmann (McKisko) and Mick Turner (Dirty Three, Tren Brothers) initially partnered on Mess Esque's shared inner plane circa 2020. Since then, they've been taken their preferred path - the one less traveled - at what appears to be an unhurried pace. Yet Jay Marie, Comfort Me is their third album in less than five years, and the new music feels at least a hemisphere away from their first efforts. Jay Marie, Comfort Me is co-produced by Helen, Mick and Nick Huggins, who recorded the Dirty Three acclaimed Love Changes Everything. Also participating in the recording are Keeley Young and Kishore Ryan from the live band, as well as cellist Stephanie Arnold and a couple of Australia's living legends of percussion, Bree van Reyk (whose 2022 album Superclusters is a beautiful monster!) and Mick's ol' Dirty Three partner in crime, Jim White.