Jess Kerber captures the quiet ache of nostalgia on ‘Next To You’.
Jess Kerber’s “Next To You” is a stirring second chapter in the rising Americana-folk artist’s catalogue. A delicate and hypnotic slow-burner, the track captures an emotional depth that feels simultaneously intimate and expansive—like reading a page torn from someone’s dream journal.
Photo by Alexandra Santos
Guided by soft fingerpicked guitar and subtle electronic textures, Kerber’s voice glides from an ethereal whisper to a bold, aching crescendo, showcasing both control and rawness. It’s a vocal performance that demands nothing but quietly commands everything.
Written in her childhood bedroom, “Next To You” is steeped in reflection and subconscious truths. Kerber explains that the song “is about the ways your dreams tell you what you don’t yet know about yourself,” and that layered sense of revelation lingers throughout the track. There’s something haunting in the way she allows the melody to breathe, almost as if she’s giving space for the memories to resurface on their own.
Kerber’s strength lies in her ability to distill complex emotions with a light touch—an artistry reminiscent of Elliott Smith and early Sufjan Stevens, both of whom she’s drawn comparisons to. But Kerber’s sound is deeply her own, shaped by her Louisiana roots, her studies at Berklee College of Music, and her intuitive collaboration with producer Will Orchard. His production never overwhelms—it shimmers around her vocals, framing them with Wurlitzer swells, pedal steel sighs, and ambient guitar flourishes that evoke the humid haze of a Southern dusk.
Her songwriting carries a kind of timelessness, rich in detail but stripped of pretense. There’s a warmth and honesty that feels inherited from her upbringing, the influence of her musician parents shining through in the track’s unforced, lived-in quality. “Next To You” doesn’t rush to its point—it meanders, aches, and gently unfurls, like a memory you didn’t realize still hurt.