Gossimer - Mountain Misery (2023) Hi-Res

Although the name of her new album under the retro-folk moniker Gossimer may be Mountain Misery, Jennifer Williams’ feelings toward rural living are much more complex than that title may imply. The music itself, for one thing, lands somewhere between pensive and brooding rather than outright bitter—though on the upbeat new single “Running Dry,” she explicitly dives headfirst into the pros and cons of country life as compared with her time living in the city. Over a rollicking full-band instrumental, Williams considers how small-town personability pushes into surveillance, while the urban landscape can often feel alienating.

“This song was directly inspired by the tension between urban and rural while living in a small town in the Sierras,” she details. “There’s a narrative about small towns being quaint and friendly, but there can also be a sense of being watched and judged; people know pretty quickly when you’re new to town. And there can also be a contradiction of values: there can be a big emphasis on personal freedom, but also your neighbor is gonna have some big opinions on your lifestyle. Meanwhile, living in this context for a year gave me a new perspective on city living. While I appreciated many aspects that come with cities, such as anonymity and experimentation, I grew tired of the fast pace and the diffusion of responsibility to take care of each other and the city itself.”