New Track/Video: Art Rock violinist Jessica Moss previews new album ‘Galaxy Heart’ with the dramatic ‘Uncanny Being’

Montreal based violinist and composer Jessica Moss is a musician of significance, fundamental to so much and a touchstone for creative dedication. A member of the seminal post punk ensemble Thee Silver Mt. Zion for fifteen years and contributor to recordings by the likes of Vic Chesnutt, Big/Brave and Sarah Davachi, she shifted focus to solo work in 2014.

Three acclaimed albums in for the resolutely out-there Constellation label and now comes news of a fourth offering from the instrumentalist, ‘Galaxy Heart’ available in all formats from 18th October. Similarly conceived during lockdown alongside its companion record, 2021’s meditative chiller ‘Phosphenes’, ‘Galaxy Heart’ shows the same resolve to maximise the opportunities provided by enforced isolation. But whereas ‘Phosphenes’ revealed a commitment to compositional concentration during those solitary days, ‘Galaxy Heart’ captures a different level of liberation. Reflecting on those times Moss recognises:
I found new ways, new loves. Let my violin lead. Let my voice lead. Played the guitar loud, in the way I love but never believed belonged to me. I let those things in, welcomed them instead of stopping them at the gate. Left space.

So ‘Galaxy Heart’ suggests music made with room to manoeuvre, an instrumental post rock soundtrack driven by improvisation and fluidity. Featuring a spectrum of instrumentation, Moss adding her gritty guitar playing and voice to the mix, and contributions (recorded remotely) from the mercurial drummer Jim White and Godspeed bassist Thierry Amar, it’s an album geared up for reaction as well as reflection.

So it’s no surprise that preview track ‘Uncanny Being’ flows with a natural urgency. The opening conversation might be tentative, a fluttering violin teasing out brief drum chatter and yawning bass bows, but soon the interaction gets animated. Moss’s keening Nordic toned melody swells while the distortion builds, Amar’s double bass finds its eerie low moan and White’s percussion tumbles dramatically. Winding down to a haunting calm, the track sort of leaves you guessing…signs are that the emotional drive of ‘Galaxy Heart’ will help you find the answers that you need.