Jessie Altman lets the fairytale fall away on new album 'Lovelight'

Across her new album 'Lovelight', Jessie Altman traces a clear emotional arc from memory and disappointment towards something steadier, warmer and far more convincing. The record opens with 'Endlessly', suspended in feelings that haven't yet fully loosened their grip, before 'Your Own Good' begin the process of letting go.

But what follows is a gradual change in perspective. Tracks like 'Barcelona' and 'Play It Cool' capture the disorientation of new attraction, while 'Wanted' feels more significant because it represents the feeling of staying rather than keeping one foot permanently near the exit. 'Reverie' continues that sense of surrender, allowing the emotion to exist without forcing it into a neat conclusion.

Even on songs such as 'Stay Away' and 'For The Hell Of It', where attraction becomes more impulsive and irrational, her writing remains emotionally precise. Here, she's examining the strange negotiation between independence, desire and the willingness to let another person matter.

'Slow Love' and 'Dancing in the Kitchen' deliberately move away from grand declarations. Their appeal lies in patience, everyday closeness and the recognition that meaningful connection can be almost uneventful from the outside. In the context of an album that begins with emotional uncertainty, that ordinariness starts to feel very significant.

Sam Hollander’s production supports that progression without overwhelming it, giving the artist's songwriting enough polish to feel expansive while keeping the emotional focus close to the vocal and the story.

By the time 'What If' closes the record, 'Lovelight' has reached a satisfying conclusion without pretending that the past no longer matters. Here, she can look back at roads not taken without needing to rewrite them as mistakes.

Warm, assured and emotionally coherent, the album finds Jessie Altman realising that the life she once imagined may be less compelling than the one she's actually learning to inhabit.