Jessamine

Jessamine is an experimental rock group from Galion, Ohio, United States, active from 1992 to 1999. The core lineup includes Rex Ritter and Dawn Smithson, and the group is also associated with keyboardist Andy Brown and drummer Michael Faeth.

Formation and early releases

The band forms in 1992 and first comes to wider attention through a self-released seven-inch single in 1994. That early single appears in silver paper with the Silver Apple label logo and includes an Alan Vega cover. A second single follows, after which Kranky signs the group.

Jessamine starts as a four-piece psychedelic rock and drone rock band, and its sound is described through space rock, shoegaze, post-rock, and drone. Guitarist Rex Ritter moves from Ohio to the Pacific Northwest, where he meets keyboardist Andy Brown and bassist/singer Dawn Smithson. Ritter’s brother, who plays drums on some early recordings, is part of Ritter’s earlier Ohio band.

Albums and recordings

After signing to Kranky, the group records over three months, rehearsing, taping, and playing live before completing basic tracks in two days. Its self-titled debut album is issued in translucent packaging and receives press attention for combining distortion, melody, and strong hooks.

The second album, Long Arm of Coincidence, appears in 1996 as a double LP and CD on Kranky. Jessamine records it in its home studio after touring helps tighten the material. The band then tours nationally with Bardo Pond.

In late 1996, Jessamine moves from Seattle to Portland, where it has more room for home recording equipment and builds a sixteen-track setup. Several singles follow and are later collected on the group’s own Histrionic label as Another Fictionalized History. The band also works with Sonic Boom’s Spectrum on a cover of Silver Apples’ “A Pox on You,” and a live collaboration with Experimental Audio Research is later issued on Histrionic.

The third album, Don’t Stay Too Long, arrives in 1998. It places more emphasis on song structures and more focused interplay than the band’s earlier extended passages.

Collaborations and later activity

Jessamine contributes a single to Sub Pop and appears on Drunken Fish’s Harmony of the Spheres compilation alongside Flying Saucer Attack, Bardo Pond, Charalambides, and others. The group ends in 1999. Afterward, Dawn Smithson returns to college in Seattle, Michael Faeth moves to Davis, California, and Rex Ritter and Andy Brown complete their studio Magnetic Park and begin working on Fontanelle.