An artist who sits outside of the conventional rock ‘n’ roll paradigm, Jarboe is truly unique. Drawing inspiration from art, literature, spirituality, and the natural world, Jarboe draws you into a unique realm and, while her music offers no easy answers, the attention to detail immerses you, awakening emotions of which you may not even have been previously aware.
In the case of Sightings, the inspiration comes from nature, the resulting album capturing both the beauty and, at times, the ominous undercurrents of the world around us. Reminiscent in places of Swans, but with free jazz, neo classical, and electronic elements drawing it further into the realm previously inhabited by The Great Annihilator and World Of Skin, Sightings is a record to treasure.
The opening moments of Sightings prove surprisingly emotional. The album starts with the five-minute sonic exploration, The Holy Waters. At the outset, a single note rings out, followed by tribal rhythms, all paving the way for Jarboe’s instantly recognisable voice. From there, the piece constantly mutates, as strings, what sounds like an oboe, and seemingly reverse-masked effects all coalesce to create a piece of music that feels like the first flowering of spring given voice. It’s dense, beautiful, and deeply affecting, and it provides the gateway into this remarkable album.
No less immersive is Francesca Sun, which combines the dark tones of a grand piano with richly textured strings. A sublime piece of music, it seems to weave a web around Jarboe’s airy vocal, the latter often simply wordless vocalisations that shimmer and gleam in the morning sun. Like the deceptively mellifluous scene depicted in the cover art, Francesca Sun combines beauty with an undercurrent of sadness, which makes all the more sense when you learn that it’s a tribute to two dear friends of Jarboe – Francesca Sundsten and Bill Rieflin – both now sadly no longer with us.
The ominous side of nature is given voice when the Swans-esque Choir And The Night Fox emerges. Reminiscent in parts of Soundtracks For The Blind, it combines eerie dissonance with found sounds – hollow footsteps and the Vixen Scream – and, as the piece expands, so we get our first glimpse of the cruelty of nature, no matter how lovely it may at first appear.
The album’s longest piece, Breathe is an expansive work that finds ambience drifting across percussion, a reverb-wreathed piano providing a certain foundation, as Jarboe and Thor trade breaths. Part new age mantra, part avant garde sonic exploration, it nods quietly to the likes of Sonic youth, Spiritualized, and Banco De Gaia, without ever sounding like any of them. It simply is. Meditative, beautiful, reflective – it’s a piece of music born from a generous spirit, and it allows you to fill the void with whatever you wish.
An even more special piece of music follows. Titled Vireo Serenade, it’s influenced by the titular bird, who came to visit Jarboe’s garden during the writing of the album. These rare little creatures are possessed of a remarkable range of song – much of which is spread across the recording, alongside elements of piano and voice. It’s a truly unique moment that places you in the heart of nature alongside Jarboe, and it is something amazing to lose yourself within it.
At the end of the album are two pieces that initially look like bonus tracks, given that they’re labelled as mixes. The first of these, The Holy Waters (Sangha Mix), adds a new layer of spirituality to the album’s opening track, with rich drones swathed in the eerie tones of a ringing gong. The result is a piece of music that, played at sufficient volume, seems to envelop the listener.
The album wraps up with a reworked track from 1991’s Thirteen Masks. Titled Ancient Memory (Oblivion mix), it offers a very different take on a piece which, in its original incarnation was closer to neo-folk than the dark, spoken-word ambient we find here. Dreamily theatrical, it’s a remarkable closer that tells a harrowing story of humanity, as it so often is, on the brink of its own destruction. Saved, in this instance, by the dark waters of an unnamed abyss, you are left to wonder how much longer mankind can stave off its own self-induced annihilation.
As with much of Jarboe’s work, Sightings gives back that which you bring to it. Ever generous, Jarboe provides you with a sonic canvass, upon which you can daub your own emotional colours. Inspired by the natural world, if you let it, the album will transport you to an oasis of your own making, wherein you will find the love, laughter, sadness, and regret of your own existence. Evocative, empathetic, and eclectic, Sightings is a truly unique experience. 9/10
