Videos: Jess Cornelius, ‘Body Memory,’ ‘Kitchen Floor’

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Jess Cornelius (Photo by Rachael Pony Cassells)

Jess Cornelius has come a far piece since starting to write the songs for her debut solo album “Distance.” The singer-songwriter, born and reared in New Zealand and transplanted to L.A. after a decade-long run fronting the Australian indie-rock band Teeth & Tongue, covers both physical and emotional geography on the album, sometimes in a single verse:

“And when I got to California I was / Seduced by the size of the sky / Threw my future at a man in a bar / And he caught it without blinking an eye,” she sings in “Palm Trees.”

The songs come with a gentle dusting of Americana, soul, ’80s pop and vintage rock ’n’ roll. Produced by Tony Buchen, “Distance” features Cornelius backed by a rotating cast including Warpaint drummer Stella Mozgawa, harpist Mary Lattimore, Emily Elhaj (Angel Olsen), Stephanie Drootin (Bright Eyes, the Good Life, Big Harp), Jesse Quebbeman-Turley (Hand Habits), whistler Molly Lewis, Justin Sullivan (Night Shop, Kevin Morby) and Laura Jean Anderson.

“Distance” comes out Friday on Loantaka Records, but it isn’t Cornelius’ first big “release” of 2020 — in late June, she gave birth to her first child, Tui Pepper Cornelius-Hale.

In fact, she baby-bumped her way through the videos for “Body Memory,” a post-disco bop down memory lane, and the album opener “Kitchen Floor,” a more distant recollection about those times one leaves the morning after. Throughout “Distance,” Cornelius’ vocals are vaguely woozy but with blue-sky clarity, which lends the element of surprise to her clever turns of phrases and emotional distillations.

“Sometimes I can’t tell the difference / Between love and low self-esteem / ’Cause it’s when I’m feeling tiny as an eyelash / That’s when I want to be all you need,” she sings on the album closer “Love and Low Self Esteem.”

In “Here Goes Nothing,” she is even more devastating in a single line: “Nothing kills lust like real life.” On “Distance,” you can feel their arcs.

||| Watch: The videos for “Body Memory,” “Kitchen Floor” and “No Difference”