Photo: Stacie Huckeba
Shibori is a traditional Japanese resist-dyeing technique. A pattern is made by binding, stitching, folding, twisting, or compressing a natural fabric, dyeing, and then releasing the bind and pressure to reveal its pattern. Techniques were ancestral, handed down exclusively within families. When the fabric is returned to its flat form after dyeing, the design that emerges is the result of the bound and tied three-dimensional shape. The cloth sensitively records both the form and the pressure; the “memory” of the tied shape remains imprinted in the cloth.
“The technique spoke to me. We endure a lifelong process of unfolding, unbinding, unstitching, and unblocking. Little by little, we see that what we thought were stains, are intricate patterns; the design of unseen hands,” singer-songwriter Jesse Correll shares. The Nashville-based artist explores this parable on his latest album, Inner Shibori, out February 11, 2022. It’s a timeless and elegantly expressive record that feels like a singer-songwriter album draped in torch-song finery.
Inner Shibori is Jesse’s fourth record since 1994, and his second release after a 15-year hiatus from music. The 13-song release is an album oozing luxury and longing. The production approach; sophisticated and tastefully sentimental songs; and the smooth musicianship recalls Frank Sinatra and Chet Baker’s lonely balladeering, and the type of recordings made at Capitol Studios in Hollywood during the 1950s and 1960s. The songs are also interwoven with threads of Americana, R&B, soul, and folk, recalling contemporary artists such as Ray LaMontagne, Jacob Collier, and Madison Cunningham.
Jesse’s last release, 2015’s Held Momentarily, was an intimately soulful bedroom production that captured the joys of romantic and personal reclamation. For Jesse, this included a new love relationship and returning to music. Jesse is a Berklee graduate and a lifelong musician, and he came back with a vengeance. He left New York and followed his muse to Music City, where he blossomed as a songwriter, a member of the Nashville music community, and a popular podcaster. Parallel to this evolution, another dynamic was playing out. Jesse and his lady were two marriage-resistant lovers that decided to do the thing, but unfortunately, their seven-year union unraveled in under a year of marriage.
What seemed and felt like a bottom, like Sinatra’s In the Wee Small Hours come to life, became a turning point of self-reflection, acceptance, and even a love rebirth. This journey became an inner Shibori experience for Jesse, and he processes it on his album. “It was like a breakup with my former self. I had been running from old stuff—like early abandonment—and I needed to address them to move on. There is definitely a story of the greatest love ever followed by the worst pain ever. To the outside, I’m sure it looked like wtf happened,” he says laughing.
The 13 tracks of the Inner Shibori came to life during three days of tracking at Skinny Elephant Recording, in Nashville with engineer Dylan Alldredge. The album was produced by Jesse and guitarist/singer-songwriter/producer Anne McCue. The pair also handpicked the core band and the session auxiliary musicians.
Reflecting on the Inner Shibori, Jesse says: “This album felt like a homecoming. Rebirth, the record I made at the end of my Berklee years, hinted at my musical identity. I can see now that I got lost for a while, and struggled to find my way back. Held Momentarily was a turning point. I needed all of those years of being lost to be able to fully express myself as a musician; as a human being. Making this record, and finding my home in the Nashville music community, has been a peak experience that I will never forget.”