Today, Jess By The Lake – the solo project of Jasmin Saarela, known as the enigmatic leader of the cult band Jess and the Ancient Ones – reveals the new track “Legacy Crown,” which can be heard on Svart Records‘ official YouTube channel HERE and all other digital platforms HERE. The track hails from Jess By The Lake‘s debut album, Under The Red Light Shine, set for international release on June 7th via Svart Records on CD, vinyl LP, and digital formats.
To be released under the moniker Jess By The Lake, the solo album Under The Red Light Shine is a more down-to-earth take on the traditions of rock music than the acid-heavy guitar walls and cosmic dimensions of her main band. Jess By The Lake‘s building blocks are more organic, with a focus on nature mysticism and a curiously Finnish brand of melancholy. The music flows unrestrained, with a few tasteful nods to genre forebearers such as Danzig or David Bowie hidden here and there.
Saarela describes how the songwriting process has stemmed from a need to create and ponder one’s existence and surroundings: “Music for me represents constant progress and a means to get by in our existence in this dimension. I’ve written these songs on the guitar or piano. I first started my solo project with Timo from Jess and the Ancient Ones, but eventually gathered a solo band around me from people at my school.”
Saarela considers the album a paean to nature and the human mind, also to an indescribable longing, so well known to all romantic artists of the past centuries. “I named the project based on the fact that I’ve lived by a lake for more or less my entire lake,” she reveals. “I’ve grown in the forest and felt a strong, unchanged bond with nature through the years.”
In the meantime, hear the new track “Legacy Crown” HERE at Svart Records‘ official YouTube channel and all other digital platforms HERE. Also hear the first single “Nightmare” HERE at Svart‘s official YouTube channel. Preorder info can be found HERE. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Jess By The Lake’s Under The Red Light Shine
1. Under The Red Light Shine
2. Freezing Burn
3. The Wait
4. Halo (Ghosts In The Flames)
5. Nightmare
6. Legacy Crown
7. My Hands
8. Interstellar
Jess By The Lake:
Jasmin Saarela – vocals, guitar, Wurlitzer
Marianne Heikkinen – drums
Heikki Leppäjärvi – bass
Aapo Kauppinen – guitar
Ethel Seppälä – keyboards
