Jason Crews is the owner and editor of INFRARED MAGAZINE and a Dallas–Fort Worth-based music journalist and concert photographer. Through INFRARED MAGAZINE and JASON CREWS PHOTOGRAPHY, he covers rock, metal, country, and live music with a focus on album reviews, artist features, concert coverage, and photography. His work is driven by a genuine passion for music and helping artists connect with new audiences through honest writing, strong visuals, and meaningful storytelling.
Rating: 8.5 / 10 Stars
JESS BY THE LAKE is: Jasmin Lempinen (vocals/guitar), Marianne Heikkinen (drums), Sampo Leksis (guitar), Oliver Karttunen (bass)
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REVIEW – There is something immediately human about HUMAN, the sophomore album from JESS BY THE LAKE. That may sound obvious given the title, but this is not an album that simply talks about people, emotion, memory, or experience. It feels lived in. The performances breathe. The songs move at their own pace. Nothing here sounds polished into sterility or stripped of its personality.
Led by Jasmin Lempinen on vocals and guitar, alongside Marianne Heikkinen on drums, Sampo Leksis on guitar, and Oliver Karttunen on bass, JESS BY THE LAKE has created a record that feels deliberately removed from the disposable nature of so much modern music. Recorded live to magnetic tape, HUMAN carries an organic warmth that fits the songs perfectly. You can hear a band playing together rather than a collection of parts assembled afterward, and that chemistry becomes one of the record’s greatest strengths.
“Jaleihou” opens the album by immediately pulling you in with Lempinen’s blues-soaked vocal delivery and the emotional weight of the instrumentation. There is a looseness to the track that feels natural rather than careless, setting the tone for everything that follows.
“Wanderin Kind” settles into an irresistible sway. The groove rolls forward effortlessly, allowing the rhythms to carry the listener while Lempinen’s voice floats above them. It is the kind of track that feels equally suited for a late-night drive or sitting alone with your thoughts.
“Lovely Boy” takes on a more dreamlike quality. There is a softness here that allows the listener to drift with the music, almost as though the song is slowing the world down around you. It feels intimate without becoming fragile.
That sense of escape continues with “Sister,” a track that invites the imagination to wander. JESS BY THE LAKE understands that atmosphere can be just as important as melody, and throughout HUMAN the band repeatedly creates spaces that the listener can step inside.
“Alice” carries a distinctly melancholic mood, with the vocals and instrumentation blending into something reflective and emotionally heavy. Rather than forcing a dramatic moment, the song simply allows the feeling to exist, which gives it even more weight.
“Falling Under” is one of the album’s most emotional moments. The song feels exposed and vulnerable, its intensity coming from restraint rather than excess. Lempinen’s performance gives the track a genuine sense of longing that lingers after it ends.
At more than six minutes, “How Could You Tell?” takes its time unfolding. It slowly draws the listener deeper into its world, creating a hazy, dreamlike atmosphere that rewards patience. Nothing feels rushed, and the band allows every section enough room to breathe.
“The Shame” brings a little more movement back into the record. It is the kind of song that makes you clap along, tap your foot, and sway with the groove without ever breaking the album’s emotional continuity.
Closing track “Holy Grove” feels like memory turned into music. It has the quality of looking backward while still moving forward, bringing old thoughts, old places, and forgotten moments rushing back. As a finale, it perfectly captures what makes HUMAN work so well.
The heart of this album is authenticity. JESS BY THE LAKE clearly wanted HUMAN to sound raw, warm, imperfect, and alive, and that commitment can be heard in every track. There is blues here, classic rock, psychedelia, melancholy, and something deeply personal tying it all together.
The analog recording process is more than a production gimmick. It suits the entire philosophy behind the album. HUMAN sounds like musicians occupying the same room, reacting to one another and allowing small imperfections to become part of the character of the record. In an era where music can often feel obsessively corrected and endlessly processed, that approach gives JESS BY THE LAKE a distinctive voice.
HUMAN is not an album that demands attention through volume or spectacle. It earns it slowly. The longer you spend with it, the deeper its atmosphere becomes. It is thoughtful, emotional, bluesy, dreamy, and unapologetically rooted in the traditions of rock music while still feeling completely personal to the musicians creating it.
JESS BY THE LAKE has delivered an album filled with warmth, emotion, groove, and genuine human connection.
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