Jenny Gillespie Mason is based in Berkeley, California, though you’d be forgiven for thinking she’s ensconced in a wood in the Cotswolds. To say that In the Safety of the Light is inspired by 1970s British folk is like saying electronic music is inspired by Kraftwerk. The album’s producer Noah Georgeson has worked with the likes of Vashti Bunyan, Joanna Newsom, and Charlotte Gainsbourg. To say he has an impressive track record is to say something extremely obvious.
“Suckling on the sun where there’s nothing left to drink / Pelicans give space to each other, why can’t we?” These are the opening lyrics on opening track ‘Horizontal’, which by themselves may have you dreaming of lying in a field of daisies. The track’s flute and pleasingly prominent cello will undoubtedly make you crave for simpler times or at least a small festival with polite punters and ideal weather. The jubilant Bryter Later-like tone of ‘I Thought I Was Surrendered’ will only intensify your desire to pack your belongings into a Volkswagen camper van and set off for the promise of precious memories and overpriced Pimm’s.
‘Medicine of Light’ “traces the fragile ladder between earthly love and higher devotion,” and the bit with the line “medicine of light comes to purify” could soundtrack a Radox advert. Of lead single ‘Rungs of Love’, Mason says that “it moves between the verses and the chorus from depicting a romantic human relationship, its successes and bumps, to meditating on the relationship I want to have with God.”On said single, she sounds like Sade and an elated Kathryn Williams. Cello and guitar mingle like courting swans, and everything is aglow.
Mason writes on Substack under the moniker Wand of Mind. In a recent blog, she wrote: “Mind is an evolutionary gift, though currently for our species as a whole, it’s not being used properly.” Indeed, so it seems sensible to reach out to a higher being for some help. ‘Touch Everyone on Earth’ imagines prayers for healing being answered. Lyrics as lovely as “droplets of nectar on an invisible chain” are laid over lovely Wurlitzer.
Perseus is a Greek demigod who famously beheaded Medusa. ‘Perseus’ is as gentle as a walk in Santorini in summer – at least until the chorus, which is as vigorous and as catchy as Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac. Likewise, to begin with, ‘Bliss’ is as chilled out as Jack Johnson, then it lurches into a Stevie Nicks-like chorus. Out comes the Wurlitzer again on final track ‘Woman from Nottingham’, which “recalls a college professor who implored her students to remember the beauty of the Earth just hours after the events of 9/11.”
In the Safety of the Light is, as the title suggests,a source of comfort. However, don’t be lulled into believing it’s a conventional folk album. Mason counts the ambient music of Hiroshi Yoshimura as an influence, and for the past decade, she’s been making multi-genre music under the pseudonym Sis. In the Safety of the Light is certainly comforting but it’s not safe – it’s experimental yet cohesive, relaxing yet thrilling.
In the Safety of the Light is out on 12th June via Native Cat Recordings
Jenny Gillespie Mason: Bandcamp | Instagram
Review by Neil Laurenson
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