Deadbeat

DEADBEAT is Jessica Risker, an American musician and visual artist based in Chicago, Illinois. Risker’s music fluctuates between electro-psychedelic/experimental albums and psych-folk songs.

Frequenting open mics, serving as an engineer’s assistant at a recording studio, and an active participant in Chicago’s DIY music scene, Risker has spent the past decade developing her sound and honing her recording/engineering skills. In 2012, Risker was named Chicago’s “Emerging Artist of the Year” by The Deli Magazine. In 2015 and 2016 Risker was awarded two independent artist grants from the city of Chicago, resulting in two 2016 releases: Big Forever, an ever-shifting continuous eighteen-minute piece of electro-psychedelic music released via Already Dead Tapes & Records, and Soft Moons: Twenty Lullabies, a self-released album of original instrumental music-box lullabies.

In 2017, Risker was again awarded an independent artist grant from the city of Chicago, marking 3 consecutive years Risker has won the highly competitive award. The funding went towards recording a new psych-folk album with engineer Dave Vettraino of Public House Sound Recordings. The resulting album caught the attention of Austin label Western Vinyl, who will release the album in Spring 2018.

DEADBEAT performs both solo and with the following musicians:

Joshua Wentz - keyboard/synths, drum machines, electronix

Jarrett Hothan - bass

Adam Wiebe - drums