Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/jessicasongs

Jessica Says is the recording project of 22-year-old Melbourne singer-songwriter Jessica Venables. A talented multi-instrumentalist, Venables has collaborated, recorded and performed with a host of local and international acts, including New Buffalo, Jens Lekman and Grand Salvo.

Born to a violin teacher and a violin maker, Venables was always destined to play strings, taking up the cello at a young age. In her teens, inspired by Joanna Newsom, Venables started writing her own songs on the piano. 'I got really distracted, right during VCE,' Venables recalled to The Age. 'I'd say to my parents "I can't concentrate, I need you to all leave the house!" So I'd sit and bash away at the piano for hours, and they'd think I was studying.'

After playing with Sally Seltmann's New Buffalo, Venables became inspired anew in her songwriting, and penned the songs that would become We Need To Talk, her acclaimed 2009 debut lp. An elegant and spare bedroom-pop collection, We Need To Talk was named Album of the Week by Radio National, Beat, The Brag and MX and was longlisted for the Australian Music Prize; critics called it 'a phenomenal debut' (Inpress), 'perfectly structured and moving… eloquent, affecting and downright gorgeous' (Beat) and 'just lovely... windswept, baroque and tender' (The Age Melbourne Magazine).

Early in 2010, Venables' plans to begin work on a follow up to We Need To Talk were put on hold when a bad accident left her unable to walk for several months. Her first single since the accident, World Without Men, sees Venables emerging from this difficult time with a newfound boldness.

The two-track single, which is available now on iTunes, was recorded by Matt Voigt (Cat Power, Oh Mercy) and features contributions from Rhys Richards (World's End Press) and long-time collaborator Geoffrey O'Connor (Crayon Fields). Read more about the new single here, or have a listen in the player above. Check out the video for World Without Men Below.