Ears Wide Open: Ilsey

Kevin Bronson on September 11th, 2023

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It seems as if Ilsey Juber was born to mint folk gold. The singer-songwriter grew up Laurel Canyon-adjacent, the daughter of renowned fingerstyle guitarist Laurence Juber. Over the years, her fingerprints as a writer or vocalist have appeared on songs for artists such as Miley Cyrus, the 1975, Kacey Musgraves, Beyoncé, Lykke Li, Kaskade and Mark Ronson, earning two Grammy nominations as a songwriter. She kicked off this summer by releasing a cover of “Heart of Gold” made with Justin Vernon (Bon Iver).

Releasing her solo music as simply Ilsey, she has followed up with the single “No California,” released with the news that her debut album, “From the Valley,” will be out Oct. 6 via Elektra. It’s an album Ilsey says “comes from a deep dark valley of the heart. A drive through that winding valley of self-doubt, longing, delusion, and ultimately hope, trying to find a way back home.”

No surprise that “No California,” now available in fully realized and acoustic versions, has a ’70s, Fleetwood Mac vibe; Ilsey waxes nostalgic about a relationship that’s vanished, taking some of the luster of the Golden State with it. Follow-up single “Yellow Roses” is a shimmering ballad about being stuck in the friend zone.

||| Stream: “No California” and the acoustic version of the song