Absorbing collection of songs that subtly reveal the quiet joys of motherhood.
The first sound that emerges from the new Sailing Stones album, Slow Magic, is the metronomic rhythm of a baby’s heartbeat with its gentle beat easing seamlessly into the opening track. It’s an appropriate beginning to an album that explores the complexities of motherhood as told through personal vignettes that focus on the smaller, everyday moments of early parenthood; those seemingly innocuous moments that occur between the milestones. Undoubtedly, it’s a topic that has been covered before but perhaps not as profoundly or poetically as this.
Jenny Lindfors, who records as Sailing Stones, has produced an album of simply woven songs, sweetly sung, whose melodies are perfectly matched with her personal, deeply emotional stories. The music is gorgeously recorded, mostly acoustic guitar-led, with various woodwinds and percussion and ethereal, layered harmonies combining with understated, dreamy arrangements that carry the tunes. Indeed, the harmonies are as integral to the overall sound as the words and melodies. The album works as a cohesive whole and certainly the manner in which the songs spill gently into each other allows the listener to become completely immersed in the words and music. Lindfors’ voice, quiet and captivating, saunters dreamily from song to song as she navigates the emotional and physical rollercoaster of motherhood.
The album blends lushly arranged baroque-folk with sparser, solo acoustic numbers, all embellished with a light colouring of psychedelia. Easing the listener in, the hopeful Innocence emerges on an easy-going groove, Lindfors’ understated vocals gracefully relaying sentiments about “not wanting to return to your adult, messy life where you’ve made mistakes and not done things as well as you might have like” over atmospheric electric guitar and shimmering woodwinds. It’s a strong statement of intent and a promise of what’s in store. Expanding on the soft psychedelic tones of the previous tracks, the upbeat The Colour of the Sun is essentially the album’s liveliest number but certainly doesn’t feel out of place. The catchy, full band sound envelops the listener in its hypnotic swoon, especially the entrancing counter harmonies that come near the end.
The compelling Days Come, Days Go follows and is a breezy folk-jazz hybrid with soaring harmonies where a contented Lindfors’ embraces a quiet moment with her daughter, knowing full well that it is likely only fleeting as she softly relays how “Blissfulness has blessed this mess”. Throughout, sincerity and genuineness of emotion are key components of the album’s strengths and never more so than on the quietly folkish Ships, a solo number simply featuring gently picked guitar and otherworldly harmonies floating above the song’s sweet melody. Quite typical of her writing, and her poet’s eye for detail, there is much to behold in her imagery and metaphors, as when she sings “Ships are always ‘she’ / Borrowed carriers / Sentinels of the sea / Those bleary eyes / In twilight / That pass each other by”.
Similarly, the brief Bird of Paradise gently unfurls over delicately picked acoustic guitar and a rather beautiful melody, while the unhurried Euphoria manages to hold the listener spellbound in its soundscape where Lindfors’ soothing vocals sing of reconciling one state of euphoria, a past life free of children and responsibilities, for a new one that includes her family: “When she’s ready for bed / And all is still / It will always be fleeting / But this time it’s real / The three of us close / To read of the wild thing / That sailed home / Euphoria”.
The album gracefully exits with the contemplative Indigo, beginning as a gentle folk lullaby before immaculately placed electric guitar notes, along with bass and drums, enter halfway through the track leading to a slightly chaotic finish featuring sustained notes and organ flourishes before the sound of heartbeat is once again heard before fading away. It’s a slightly jarring conclusion to an otherwise poignant track, but one that gives credence to the tangle of emotions addressed in the lyrics. Deliberate in its approach and flawlessly executed, the album is beautifully conceived and put together; the production, performances and arrangements combining perfectly to capture the essence of the wonderful words being sung. Like its title suggests, it’s an album that slowly reveals itself to be something truly magical.
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