As the Broadside Hacks/ Shovel Dance Collective avant-folk momentum rolls on, it does well to remember that Newcastle’s Jayne Dent aka Me Lost Me has been stretching those traditional boundaries since the release of her inspired debut ‘Arcana’ way back in 2018. An album set in a trad frame but with a feisty experimental intent, the music immediately set Me Lost Me apart, a lone furrow was being ploughed as invigorating as the work of Trembling Bells. By her third collection ‘RPG’ from a couple of years ago Dent’s singular wiring of electronic, acoustic and folk forms throbbed with such invention that consolidation might have been expected for the follow up, but no. ‘This Material Moment’, Me Lost Me episode four out now on Upset The Rhythm, breaks fresh and fascinating new ground.
Dent traces the foundation of her new album’s dynamism back to the encouragement of fellow artist Julia Holter to write ‘automatically’ rather than tying things down to a specific mood or story. Ironically working with this mindset has nurtured her most person centred and reflective music to date, a release which she reckons “feels like the most emotionally raw album I’ve ever made”.
The opening tracks expose the tensions and complexity that Me Lost Me is exploring here. Her resonant voice begins Useful Analogies, purposeful and strong but tinged with a weary realisation that states can change, from vibrant to resistant like the battery metaphor which threads through the lyric. A slow processional beat, a choral counterpoint, distant electronic whirrs and flutters are all that’s needed to create the intensity. Extending this minimal soundscape, the Davachi-like drone of Lasting, not to last is similarly sombre. The string sounds keen, the monotone bassy and voice drenched, as the singer chillingly admits (maybe to herself) “…you, with abandon/Knew the end was coming soon.”
Endings and impermanence are not the only themes that this multi-layered album probes. On the beautifully realised A Painting of the Wind there seems to be hope, hope maybe that two people might grow to understand together. As a stately synth pattern peels, surrounded by the floating notes of bass and clarinet, Me Lost Me metaphors catch the moments (“like trying to iron sheets/As they float on a breeze“). Following on, Still Life, inspired by a favourite painting, seems to honour the power of ordinary things with Dent realising “Never thought I’d be moved by still life/ but the pause is what I’d like”. There’s a nostalgic warmth about the song as church bells chime and people chatter while a fulsome chorus bring an understated Unthanks swell.
With sessions and sing-arounds part of her upbringing folk song, melody and sense of purpose are inevitably rooted in Me Lost Me’s music. Traditional twang, turns and tone permeate through to her voice and sounds but never dictate how ‘This Material Moment’ shapes up. For Dent folk represents being creative but remaining authentic. So when a simple approach says it all that’s the way Me Lost Me goes, as on the uplifting acapella of A Souvenir or the insistent earth hymn of An Affirmation. Such self-assurance feels like a step-on for ‘This Material Moment’ Me Lost Me, an album where experimentation and musicality are impressively balanced.
The sonic progression from the packed agenda of ‘RPG’ is doubly ensured by the continuity of collaborators on the new album. Double bassist John Pope returns as does Faye MacCalman on clarinet and Pigs x7 guitarist Sam Grant is again present to play and record. All combine on the thrillingly taut A Small Hand Clamped, guiding the song from mechanical electric bass notes softened by a swooping vocal and woodwind combo, to a dreamy, rippling coda. This song shows Me Lost Me happy to explore new rock dynamics and that route gets driven further on songs featuring another Pigs X7 alumni, drummer Ewan MacKenzie.
Compromise is anything but that, MacKenzie bringing a crunching industrial stomp plus snare drills to the power chords, bass groans, unhinged organ and Me Lost Me’s most desperate wail. Less brutal but with equal impact Ancient Summer thrusts with post-rock grandeur, a steaming locomotive rhythm, a goading bassline and Dent’s voice searing through with a Kate Bush-esque authority. It’s an epic celebration of natural power which parallels ‘RPG’s fascination with time and timelessness. Take It On Board is equally apocalyptic but less steeped in folklore as it seems to pick at air travel obsession with a stark plane crash/ planet meltdown metaphor. Orchestrally driven, Pope’s double bass roars doom-laden as the song winds down to a quiet oblivion. “You are travelling on fire” Is Me Lost Me’s final warning.
Richard Dawson has long been a supporter of Jayne Dent’s music and her metal/folk leaning on ‘This Material Moment’ has echoes of his excursions with Circle, without the proggy quirks. Closing track Have You Been Changing shows Me Lost Me’s alchemic blend of force and fragility reach a spell-binding peak. Atmospheric with experimental angles, the song builds to a ceremonial high, a canticle re-imagined which leaves the question of change hanging. Not that any tuned in listener will be in any doubt, they’ll just turn ‘This Material Moment’ over and play again.
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