Tessa Rose Jackson's latest album, The Lighthouse, is a masterful folk record that traverses an array of styles and themes. This marks her fourth solo outing, one that diverges from her previous work as Someone in terms of sound and subject matter. Recorded alone in rural France, the album explores ancestry, mortality, and memory with unflinching candour.
The Lighthouse commences with its eponymous title track, a cinematic journey replete with the warm timbre of folk guitar, woodwind, and percussion that sets the tone for a deeply personal and introspective work. Jackson's lyrics are informed by her own experiences, including the loss of one mother at a young age, which she tackles head-on in tracks like The Bricks That Make the Building and Gently Now.
Jackson's production is crisp and inviting, with songs like Fear Bangs the Drum and Wild Geese showcasing a keen sense of melodic craftsmanship reminiscent of peers like This Is the Kit and Aldous Harding. Her vocals are equally impressive, oscillating between delicate vulnerability and spirited intensity.
Standout tracks include Grace Notes, a piano-led ballad that showcases Jackson's ability to craft haunting melodies, Prizefighter, which features a captivating guitar riff redolent of Paul Simon, and By Morning, a track that begins with a haunting melody redolent of Simon's classic style. The Lighthouse is a luminous rebirth for Jackson, an album that confirms her status as a compelling and versatile folk artist.
In other news, Irish folk band Ye Vagabonds have released All Tied Together, produced by Philip Weinrobe, which features moving songs about arresting characters and slow-burning narratives. Adam Weikert's To Whom Ourselves We Owe is an engagingly gutsy exploration of traditional songs, while Nomad War Machine and Susan Alcorn's Contra Madre โ a self-released collaboration that combines pedal steel talents with death metal โ offer boundary-pushing experimentation for the adventurous listener.
The Lighthouse commences with its eponymous title track, a cinematic journey replete with the warm timbre of folk guitar, woodwind, and percussion that sets the tone for a deeply personal and introspective work. Jackson's lyrics are informed by her own experiences, including the loss of one mother at a young age, which she tackles head-on in tracks like The Bricks That Make the Building and Gently Now.
Jackson's production is crisp and inviting, with songs like Fear Bangs the Drum and Wild Geese showcasing a keen sense of melodic craftsmanship reminiscent of peers like This Is the Kit and Aldous Harding. Her vocals are equally impressive, oscillating between delicate vulnerability and spirited intensity.
Standout tracks include Grace Notes, a piano-led ballad that showcases Jackson's ability to craft haunting melodies, Prizefighter, which features a captivating guitar riff redolent of Paul Simon, and By Morning, a track that begins with a haunting melody redolent of Simon's classic style. The Lighthouse is a luminous rebirth for Jackson, an album that confirms her status as a compelling and versatile folk artist.
In other news, Irish folk band Ye Vagabonds have released All Tied Together, produced by Philip Weinrobe, which features moving songs about arresting characters and slow-burning narratives. Adam Weikert's To Whom Ourselves We Owe is an engagingly gutsy exploration of traditional songs, while Nomad War Machine and Susan Alcorn's Contra Madre โ a self-released collaboration that combines pedal steel talents with death metal โ offer boundary-pushing experimentation for the adventurous listener.