Reminder to self that I should listen to more evening radio in my quest to find new things to enjoy and write about here. A week or so ago doing so helped me chance upon Billy Nomates and her wonderful debut album. Now, listening to Marc Riley's evening show a couple of days back has helped me discover New Truth, the altogether wondrous third album by Jenny O.
Druggy, happy, dreamy and melancholic by turns, it's a record that drags you imperceptibly and effortlessly into its headspace, an incredibly soothing place to be . In this respect it works in a similar manner to Ora Cogan's latest Bells In The Ruins, which I wrote about on here a while back this conjures up and maintains a particular haunting, spectral ambience. By he end of its twelve track run I was utterly won over. Under its spell. So started listening again from the beginning. Only the best records do that.
Jenny O was born on Long Island but is now based in California. This seems appropriate, given the stoned, immaculate qualities of New Truth. The record is rooted in old school songwriting craftsmanship pure and simple. Laurel Canyon meets Harry Nilsson, meets Nick Drake meets Weyes Blood. Somewhere in the early Seventies.
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The album was born from the saddest of circumstances. Jenny contracting a rare condition leading to complete and permanent deafness in one ear. But this is by no means a self pitying record. Nor a one mood one either, this shifts in the most subtle and effecting manner from track to track like sunlight playing across a dappled landscape.
It's difficult to pick highlights here, because every track contributes something to the mood. A truly lovely record. Familiar but strangely fresh. An album I anticipate playing to death over the coming weeks and months.
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