I remember the first time I heard Jessamine Barham’s music. I was at the Kalabash desk, and an email from her music production teacher Alex popped up one afternoon. “Here’s an mp3 of the mastered version of ‘A Thousand Stars’!” Alex said in a quick message, cc-ing Jessy. Curiously, I hit play on the attached track. Immediately the clear, deep timbre of Jessy’s voice, paired with an ethereal harp, drifted through the studio, captivating me. I listened to the entire track once. Then I listened to it again. And then a third time. It was mesmerizing, like no other song I’ve heard at the school or even on the radio. It was a rare piece of music that felt raw, vulnerable, and truly original.
That was over a year ago. We’re in 2021 now. We’ve all gone through so much turmoil, our world has been upended over and over again. We’re figuring out a new way of being alone, and together. And Jessy’s new EP, Light in the Darkness, feels like an antidote to the solitude and loneliness that we’ve all felt. And it feels like an instruction manual on emerging from the other side somehow better, more hopeful. In a brand new dawn.
The EP opens with Ghosts from the Past, a symphonic soundscape layered with dark harmonies that skillfully juxtapose the light piano melodies. This dimension and texture gives a nod to the symphonic metal bands that came before her, yet the candid lyrics and cadence is unmistakably her own. At the end of the song, she chants hypnotically “We are always there, you can’t forget us. We made you who you are. You would be nothing without us”. This chilling shift in tone, taking on the perspective of the ghosts she’s depicting, hint at the subtle cinematic arc present throughout the whole EP.
Next is Price to Pay, an upbeat, dark carnival bop accompanied by Jessy’s characteristic internal reflection, this time with regards to self protection and trust. Blindly signing everything away, like a fun-house mirror, “looks appealing to the eye can be rotten to the core inside”.
“Only a Dream” brings us back to the chamber pop tone that is so unique to her style, particularly the hypnotic xylophone, lifting the song to the realm of an ethereal lullaby. Our voice teacher Lexi Pulido commends “Only a Dream”, saying: This song is full of surprising lyricism and dynamic changes of pace. The way she changes her vocal expression when shifting from lines of joy to lines of falsity is very well-crafted.
The last song on the album is “A New Dawn”, a surprisingly short, sweet and intimate song that feels like a field shining with dew on the countryside. Jessy’s soulful voice lifts and bows effortlessly in this triumphant renewal song. We’ve made it through the reckoning with ghosts of the past, the fears of trust, the disillusionment of waking life. Jessy has since stated that she’s choosing to make big changes in her style and artistry, shifting her intention to focus on the light and positive energy of life. “I am going down a different path in my artistic journey; this will be the last dark album I make” she said, of Light in the Darkness. This dynamic shift is evident in this last song, both somber and hopeful, like a hymn. “I now am understood” she sings in a voice as clear as the morning sky, “We embrace a new era where we don’t have to worry, we don’t have to be afraid.”
Whatever this new era brings, if we have Jessamine Barham making music in it, I think we’ll all be okay.
March 18th Update: Jessy has since started a Patreon which you can find here. It has all sorts of fun offerings! Be sure to check it out!