Forever, I’ve Been Being Born: Jesse Sykes Returns After Fourteen Years

Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter will release Forever, I’ve Been Being Born on November 28th via Ideologic Organ in Europe, the UK, Asia, and South America, with Southern Lord handling North America and Australasia. The album is the band’s first since 2011’s Marble Son and their fifth overall since forming in 2002.

Title: Forever, I've Been Being Born
Artist: Jesse Sykes And The Sweet Hereafter
Release Date: 2025-11-28
Genres: Folk, Folk Rock, Indie Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Label: Ideologic Organ
Description: Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter release Forever, I've Been Being Born Nov 28 via Ideologic Organ. First album since 2011 features Marissa Nadler.

The record took ten years to complete. Two band members departed after Marble Son, which Sykes describes as heartbreaking and requiring a period of separation from music-making. The loss of the rhythm section created what she calls a necessary grieving process before the band could continue.

Electric guitarist Phil Wandscher plays throughout the album, which also features Marissa Nadler on the lead single “Gentle Chaperone.” The songs address mortality, emotional dislocation, death, and transformation. Sykes has stated that the album functions as a eulogy, exploring death with what she characterizes as calm acceptance.

The title track includes the line “Eternities, they will crumble.” Another song references a gentle chaperone, inspired by Sykes’ childhood babysitter, who she credits with teaching her about love. Sykes has said she often imagines death as returning to this person.

During recording, Sykes instructed the band to play as if a butterfly wing were brushing against their cheek in the dark while holding a small child, seeking tenderness and grace. She has noted that the delayed release made the lyrics more relevant to current collective crises, suggesting a premonitory element to the writing.

The band plans to tour in 2026.

Jesse Sykes began collaborating with Phil Wandscher in Seattle in 2001. The New York Times described their music as “spellbound music, rapt in fatalism and sorrow.” Her voice has been characterized by MAGNET as dusky and capable of imparting a transcendent quality. The band has toured extensively in the US and Europe, performing with Sunn O))), Boris, Coco Rosie, Jason Isbell, J. Tillman, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, and Gillian Welch. Sykes co-wrote and sang “The Sinking Belle” on Altar, a collaboration between Sunn O))) and Boris released by Southern Lord. Pitchfork called the track the album’s centerpiece and masterpiece. Sykes cited Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking as inspiration for the lyrics. She is also a visual artist whose photographic work has appeared in Vice.

Phil Wandscher co-founded Whiskeytown with Ryan Adams and appears on the band’s first three records, co-writing songs on Strangers Almanac. He has also recorded with Marissa Nadler on her album July and toured with Jon Langford of the Mekons. Other collaborations include Rocky Votolato, Nada Surf, and Death Cab for Cutie.

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