Jesse Jerome Jenkins V is best known as the bassist for Pure X, a Texan quartet whose psychedelic, muggy Americana was last heard on 2014’s Angel. Now performing solo as Jesse, Jenkins emerges with a more sober take on that band's sound. With its sluggish tempo and bluesy undertones, “Hard Sky” has the languid sway of a porch swing at dusk, and Jenkins conjures a lovely haze with his roomy, relaxed aesthetic. His guitar licks are jazzier and more and full-bodied, and the appearance of S U R V I V E’s Kyle Dixon on synth gives an otherworldly air to the song’s already pensive mood. The most notable element is Jenkins' voice: He recalls a sedated Marc Bolan as he drawls lines like, "It takes time/No love is blind." Maybe this all scans as mining nostalgia or paying homage, but it's easy to hear a unique character making surface-level signifiers his own. In Jesse's world, even a cheeseball synth lead feels strangely crestfallen instead of kitsch.