Jenny Gillespie Mason, the singer-songwriter behind projects including Sis and the Lower Wisdom, has announced a new album. In the Safety of the Light is set for release on June 12 via Native Cat Recordings. Listen to the shimmering lead single ‘Rungs of Love’ below.
Commenting on the new track, Mason said in a press release: “’Rungs of Love’ was inspired by my guru Mother Mirra Alfassa’s descriptions of the rungs of love in a relationship – from selfish love that cares a lot about what you get back, to a love that gives without wanting anything back, to a divine love that serves only God. The song moves between the verses and the chorus from depicting a romantic human relationship, its successes and bumps, to meditating on the relationship I want to have with God.”
Produced by Noah Georgeson (Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, Bert Jansch, Vashti Bunyan), the record was laid down at a private studio in Los Angeles. It finds Mason returning to the kind of acoustic folk music she first began writing as a teenager. “In the Safety of the Light is a project that was building in me for quite a few years, but it took meeting Noah Georgeson for it to reach its fulfillment,” Mason reflected. “Working with someone so kind, calm and creative was what was needed for these songs to become fully formed in their true essence. I hadn’t written strictly on an acoustic guitar for many years, and I felt a return to my original inspiration that led me to becoming a musician as a young teenager – just me and a guitar.”
“Songwise, there is material in the album about trying to live as an aspiring yogi while also trying to be a mother and a wife inside of a weird civilization,” she continued. “Most of the lyrics are very simple and taken from my journals; I didn’t really do much adornment of them, as I wanted the communication to be straightforward and accessible despite the more spiritual leaning subject matter.”
Revisit our Artist Spotlight interview with Sis.
In the Safety of the Light Cover Artwork:
In the Safety of the Light Tracklist:
1. Horizontal
2. I Thought I Was Surrendered
3. Medicine of Light
4. Rungs of Love
5. Wonder of the Circle
6. Perseus
7. The Bliss
8. Woman from Nottingham
