Occasionally one comes across an artist that is undefinable…not in a self-indulgent way…
But in a way that is sublimely familiar, an earworm that burrows deeply into the confines of your soul.
Jesika von Rabbit is what popular music would sound like if it wasn’t some micro-engineered creation conjured up by two dozen producers, mixers, and co-writers in an artificial intelligence laboratory in Stockholm.
Formerly the frontwoman and chief songwriter of the successful and iconic Joshua Tree act Gram Rabbit, von Rabbit has released two critically lauded solo albums, Journey Mitchell and Dessert Rock, along with a bevy of singles and visually arresting videos.
Mind-bending, sexy, weird, medicated, and endearing, von Rabbit’s art is a blast of candy cane shrapnel full of utter madness, brilliance, and complexity. Intelligent and whimsical, vulnerable and sarcastic, ironic and riotous, her lyrical content is one of the observer, the questioner, and the contrarian. Yet at heart, she’s a pop artist, one with the guts to take musical risks you wished that Top 40 pop princesses had the guts to make.
Live, she is a sight to behold; dancing, transcendent, and confrontational, garbed in a skintight technicolor bodysuit, adorned, and bejeweled. Her stage show features the Grundles, her Wonka-esque dancers who interpret the set with an array of amusing costumes and Vaudevillian skits.
Her live band, a dynamic group of rock ‘n roll veterans, including her long-time bassist Lee Joseph (who doubles on guitar on her recordings), allows her to foray into her wild performative side while onstage.
Jesika recently won “Best Female Vocalist” and “Best Song” at the Joshua Tree Voice Music Award Show. This is in addition to “Best Female Performer” multiple years in a row at the Coachella Valley Weekly Awards.
Von Rabbit is currently hard at work on her third album to be released later this year.
Von Rabbit has toured with the Eagles of Death Metal, and has performed at the Desert Daze, Camper van Beethoven’s Campout Festival, Joshua Tree Music Festival, Stoned and Dusted festival, Tiki Oasis, as well as San Francisco, Portland, and Palm Springs Pride. She has shared stages with acts as diverse as Wanda Jackson, Cat Power, and The Crystal Method. Dubbed “The Queen of the Hi-Desert,” Jesika is the torchbearer of the ever-vibrant Hi-Desert music scene.
Jesika von Rabbit’s original compositions have been licensed to CSI, Life, The Real World, Sons of Anarchy, Crash, Hit & Miss, Crazy Stupid, Love and War Inc., Grace and Frankie, a commercial spot for Fruit of the Loom which aired during the 2012 Summer Olympics, and the upcoming Morgan Freeman film 57 Seconds.
Jesika von Rabbit has been identified with the high desert music scene since before it was a scene. The Desert Sun.
Many of Jesika’s original compositions have been placed to film and television; here is the shortlist: Hollywood Blockbuster Crazy Stupid Love, Ewan McGregor’s Long Way Round, CSI Las Vegas, NBC’s Life, Sons of Anarchy, Crash, Hit & Miss, FX’s Better Things, War Inc. starring John Cusack, an episode of Grace and Frankie, as well as a commercial spot for Fruit of the Loom that aired during the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Jesika Von Rabbit is one of Los Angeles’ great musical one-offs. She’s simultaneously pop and art, accessible and avant-garde. She’s a mass of contradictions in the most glorious way and her influences, which touch on everything from ’80s MTV pop to ’70s tie-dye psychedelia, betray that very thing. In the live environment, she excels. She’s part Berlin chanteuse, with dabs of Nico, and part performance artist. She’s also a force of nature, and a local gem. – Brett Callwood – The L.A. Weekly
She is drop-dead gorgeous and has an absolutely incredible voice. But von Rabbit is more than a pretty chick singer. She is an innovative creator and expressionist as well as one hell of an entertainer… Her show is brilliantly nonsensical; a sonic and visual spectacle that is unlike any other and you cannot take your eyes away. She is an artist that you just have to keep coming back to see because you evolve every time you do. – Coachella Valley Weekly
Danceable, commercial, and first-to-last-catchy, this album’s assortment of deliciously sweet and pretty poisons indicates von Rabbit rapidly Wonkafying, cybernizing, and de-rusticating. She may well have more reinventions in her than David Bowie. — Ron Garmon – L.A. Record
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