Death is sadly inevitable and we all deal with it in a variety of ways. I have Irish heritage so it`s almost a celebration as long as you aren`t the one who has passed. Dutch-British singer-songwriter and composer Tessa Rose Jackson tackles it head on with her latest album `The Lighthouse` which is sculpted by themes of grief, family, memory, and belonging. The intimate Kitchen Garden Café is the perfect setting for TRJ, her string quartet and keyboard player and partner Darius Timmer to share these, at times almost ethereal compositions.
The show opens with the title track `The Lighthouse`, a delightfully tender offering with a story about a sailor lost at sea in fog who spots a light and is drawn to an island that maybe the land of the dead. A really gentle opener which is a marker for what`s to follow. `The Man Who Wasn`t There` has a similar sentiment but with a delightful chorus hook of “I`m not carrying that again”.
`The Bricks That Make The Building` is about ancestry and has a wonderful, dreamy quality. We move away from the latest release to a track `Anti-hero` a collaboration from an EP `A Mirror Sometimes` which was originally made with the indie musical project Franklin Mansion. The track has a late night jazzy vibe and almost sways as it evolves. It`s a number about an outsider who struggles to find their footing while watching the rest of the world move past them.
We return to the latest album with `When Your Time Comes` which is about the inevitability of dying and the singer encourages this intimate gathering to clap and stamp our feet in time with the rhythm of the song. This first set closes with `Gently Now` about Tessa Rose`s Mom. The artist was raised by two Moms, one of whom has passed and she imagines, in the song, a meeting with her ghost or spirit. This resonated so much with me as I often dream of my departed mom and find it wonderfully comforting.
This musical sextet return after a short interlude and open with `Strange World` a song from back in time off 2021`s `Shapeshifter` album and it has a dreamlike quality with vocals that are almost whispered. We enjoy another track from the `A Mirror Sometimes` EP with `Shadow Song` which was a collaboration with Amsterdam-based Dutch-Ghanaian singer-songwriter Nana Adjoa. Another track that has a fairly illusory ambience. The singer poses the question “Have you ever found yourself in a heated argument with a loved one, when suddenly you realise… you might be in the wrong? But you’re simply too invested to just gracefully admit defeat and back down? “ well this was what inspired what she calls her superpower song, the dreamlike `By Morning` which came almost fully formed after argument with her partner.
`Wild Geese` is another number inspired by the singer`s departed mom who was originally from Minnesota while `Built to Collide` was a number that frustrated the singer as she tried to complete her latest release.
`Prize Fighter` is the final almost otherworldly number that the show ends on, a musing on the internal critic or bully residing in each of our heads and how we hopefully learn to disregard or ignore it.
Tonight was a really enjoyable evening of music that could be described as folk and cinematic alt-pop or neo folk but whatever you call it Tessa Rose Jackson has a wonderful vocal range and ability and her delightful album was really brought to life with the backing of the string quartet and keys.
Sadly this evening was the last of the current UK dates but there is an EP `The Lighthouse With Strings (Live at Metropolis)` which reworks seven tracks from the latest album and is as close as you`ll get to the live show.
