Eye is the new project from Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard singer Jessica Ball. Taking its cues from the likes of Cocteau Twins, Belly, Bjork, and PJ Harvey, Dark Light is a unique and oft-beautiful piece of work that pairs Jessica’s haunting vocals with downtempo electronica, hazy shoegaze, and occasional hints of liquid guitar. More a work of art from a group of talented musicians exploring the dark hinterlands of their interests than your typical album, Dark Light is something truly special, and we can only hope that the response is such that Jessica returns to the project in the future.
The CD arrives with no press release and no fanfare. The first track, however, stops me in my tracks. Unearthly and spectral, it seemsto hover in the air between the speakers, taking influence from a range of established downtempo and trip hop acts, from Bjork to Massive Attack, while incorporating a subtle rock edge hinting at sharper claws lurking just beneath the surface. With woozy guitars and Jessica’s sublime vocals, the piece further benefits from the superlative production of Chris Fielding, and the effect is such that the music envelopes the listener. Up next, the title track maintains the atmosphere as synth swells vie with gossamer-fine guitars reminiscent of acts like Lush and even early Radiohead. The pleasing jangle combines with more organic percussion, resulting in the feeling that you’ve encountered some long-lost artefact from the early 90s. That subtle Radiohead vibe remains on The Other Sees, the subdued percussion and skeletal guitars awash in a comforting bath of synth. With Jessica’s voice heavily treated, it’s a beautiful piece of dark pop music, perfectly pitched to work its way into your senses.
A very different piece appears next. Titled In Your Night, it finds Jessica in Tanya Donnelly mode, the slow-paced piece recalling vintage Belly as it slowly expands to fill the space with gorgeous layers of sound before taking a turn towards Windhand for the second half. Finally, the multitracked harmonies of In The Sun, Eternally are set over the sparsest of backings, focusing the attention on Jessica’s haunting vocals, and wrapping up a flawless first half with the listener left drifting through time and space.
Opening the second half, the gorgeousness of Respair can hardly be overstated. A shimmering piece that draws on the likes of PJ Harvey and Bjork, it throws in touches of The Cure and Massive Attack for good measure, and it proves unutterably wonderful. Then there’s Out Of Sight, a track with a slightly harder edge and a sense of tension wrapped up in some darkly gritty guitars. It creates a lingering sense of threat that is only just offset by the lovely harmonies. In contrast, the crystalline structures of Stillness echo the dark majesty of Dead Can Dance – a sense that remains for the haunting See Yourself, only for a devastatingly heavy riff to blaze brightly in the darkness, providing a moment of doom-laden catharsis. Final track Rescue You rounds the album out on a calmer note, gently easing the listener back to reality having spent a wonderful forty-five minutes on a guided tour of Jessica’s universe. It’s a subtle, heart-stopping finale that brings this wonderful album to a perfect close.
A surprising and deeply engaging head trip of an album, Dark Light caught me completely off guard, but I can easily imagine it landing as one of my albums of the year. With elements from trip hop and alternative to indie and doom cutting through the mix, it’s an eclectic and special body of work that has to be experienced to be understood. If you’re looking for something darkly compelling, metal-adjacent, and just a little off the beaten path, this really is a must. 9.5/10
