Former Gram Rabbit leader, Joshua Tree’s Jesika von Rabbit, has released her third solo album!
“Bunnywood Babylon is an introspective journal entry,” says Jesika von Rabbit. “It’s about self-deprecation, love, loss, finger-pointing, and wordplay fed through a funnel of Americana, psychedelia, atmospheric electronic futuristic pop rock ‘n’ roll.”
Bunnywood Babylon was recorded in Joshua Tree with additional recording and mixing in Silverlake. The album also features Jesika’s long-time musical partner, Dionysus Records CEO, former Unclaimed, Yard Trauma, and Davie Allan and The Arrows member Lee Joseph on bass and electric and acoustic guitars. The album is produced by Jesika and Ethan Allen.
The eerie high desert enclave of Joshua Tree is famous for its spiky trees, their twisted arms praying towards the heavens. Just below lies Palm Springs, an area defined by retro-futuristic architecture and golden age glamour. If there is an artist whose music personifies this unique region, it’s Jesika von Rabbit. Her brand of Electronica Americana is indeed a head-spinning mezcal cocktail of the high-lonesome sound meets Hollywood razzle dazzle.
Like a steampunk spaceship, Jesika von Rabbit’s latest release, Bunnywood Babylon, transcends musical space and time. Her ability to create déjà entendu brings with it an uncanny resonance, an instant familiarity where one swears they’ve heard her retrofuturistic music in a past life.
Quirky and poppy, “Pretty Dum”, “Wacko”, and “Aberdeen Martin” are instant earworms. Windswept and poignant, “Desert Rain” and “Hooray for Hollywood” touch upon her penchant for classic Americana. “Go Back to L.A.” and “Gotta Keep my Buzz Going” are raucous fuzz rockers. “What is Your Ism”, “Surf Music” (digital-only track), and “I Can’t Find Me” are celestial journeys for the desolate space cowboy. And finally, “Year of the Tiger” is as sublime a ballad as you’ve ever heard. Closer “Desert Rain” rings with authentic melancholy and longing.
Lyrically bold, provocatively thoughtful, cheeky, not preachy, this is pop music for the sapient. In an era where most artists just write the same song in perpetuity, Jesika von Rabbit’s Bunnywood Babylon stands as a work that is as original and remarkable as it is incredibly varied.
The vinyl is distributed by ILDistro, and is available from Dionysus Mail Order at this link as well as select mail order internet and brick and mortar stores.
You can find the digital on most all digital platforms!