Montaigne

Links: https://www.facebook.com/montaignemusic http://www.montaignemusic.com.au/

Montaigne is the stage and artist name of Jessica Cerro. The moniker Montaigne is a reference to the 16th century essayist Michel de Montaigne.

Jessica Cerro was a triple j Unearthed High finalist of 2012 with indie pop song ‘Anyone But Me’. Jess decided to wait on pursuing her music career full-time in order to finish her secondary studies. She spent time refining and developing her songwriting skills under the guidance of Michael Szumowski of Alberts music. Consuming more of the fiction that feeds her introspectively self-conscious lyrics, her quest was to develop a more mature worldview. Late last year Montaigne recorded her first EP with producer Tony Buchen (The Preatures, Andy Bull).

‘I’m A Fantastic Wreck’ was the first offering from Montaigne’s debut EP, Life of Montaigne, released in 2014. The EP is like a book, each song a chapter. Each sound is unique, leaving us to understand the depths of our very private selves, with influences such as The National, Sigur Rós, Arcade Fire and Owen Pallett.

Some years later, she released two albums: ‘Glorious Heights’ in 2016 and ‘Complex’ in 2019

In 2020 she won Australia Decides with her song ‘Don’t break me’ and got selected to represent her country in the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. Unfortunately the contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

One year later, in 2021, Montaigne was internally selected to represent her country with the song ‘Technicolour’