An immersive listening experience

Jessica Moss, a Montreal based violinist and composer best known for her affiliation with Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, has just released her latest album Galaxy Heart on October 7, 2022. This ten track album was created as a sequel album to her 2021 album Phosphenes. Both albums were created when Moss was quarantined in 2020 due to the rapid spreading of Covid-19. 

To quote Boomkat, “. . .Moss wrote Galaxy Heart in lockdown, channeling her stifled energy into a sequence of songs that encapsulated the complexity of her emotional state. Finding a personal mid-point between folk, rock, experimental music and heady ambient textures, Moss is able to tightrope walk through precarious territory.” It is evident that Moss wanted a mysterious astronomical theme, and translated that into the complex layering of the many different instruments she used in her original compositions. Furthermore, it is possible that melancholy sound throughout the album may symbolize the loneliness and worry that can result from isolation. 

Galaxy Heart opens with a short opening track called “Resistance Creature” featuring only one instrument— the electric guitar. Despite the simplicity, the guitar’s solitary presence comes along as captivating, grungy, and powerful. This makes for an excellent introduction to the rest of the album. The songs that follow contain an audibly intriguing variety of instruments played in different styles. From the distant vocals in “Galaxy Heart,” (a song of the same title) to the violin double stops in “Undirected,” to the heavy use of synthesizers in “This Continuous Spectrum,” This album will provide an immersive musical experience to those who appreciate music that is “out-of-the-box” so to speak. 

In the tracks like “Galaxy Heart” and “Is There Room For All of It,” the vocals are filled with angst and sorrow respectfully. The vocals are distant and emotional, perhaps like a cry for help, or a calling. Meanwhile the vocals are accompanied by ominous electric guitar chords as well as a few simple electronic drum parts. 

This is quite different from other tracks such as “Light Falls On Every Door,” “Opened Ending” and both of the “Uncanny Being” violin studies. These particular tracks, as well as a few others, include orchestral parts for the stringed instruments. The most prominent stringed instruments would be the violin and the upright bass. The violin’s melodic double stops go perfectly with the bass’s undertones. This is mainly the case in “Uncanny Being Violin Study #2.” 

Galaxy Heart’s audibly stimulating instrumentals and creative musical motifs will provide an immersive listening experience for everyone.