There are artists of our times who seem so in sync with our era that it appears as if they’ve been placed on our planet for a specific purpose. Then there are artists who are timeless and transcend current events, releasing music that is perennial and exists outside our world’s window. American singer and musician Jarboe definitely belongs to the latter class and has left a trail of albums (both solo and with Swans) that defy easy categorisation and could have been released at any point in the last fifty years or the coming fifty. For latest album, the cryptically titled Sightings, Jarboe delves deep into her musical toolbox to create a record not of an age, but for all time.
It’s perhaps no coincidence that Jarboe was born and raised in the Southern United States, primarily New Orleans and Atlanta, an environment that has a strong connection to voodoo and the dark arts. There’s always been a touch of black magic to Jarboe’s sound, as if she has visited some strange netherworld (and made field recordings) and returned with a strange travelogue. Sightings is no exception and finds Jarboe swirling a cauldron and conjuring a selection of unearthly tracks. Opening shot ‘The Holy Waters’ will be strangely familiar to fans of Jarboe, that’s not to say it is generic (nothing could be further from the truth), only this track (and album) has a certain feel and aesthetic that could only have come from her pen. With drums that seem to emanate from a New Orleans opium den, ‘The Holy Waters’ is a hypnotic affair, and one which soon casts a spell over the listener. Throughout a diverse career, Jarboe has expended a great deal of effort in finding just the right tone and timbre, using notes that reverberate with the listener on some deep, primordial level, and that’s certainly the case here. ‘The Holy Waters’ (and, indeed, the whole album) will prise doors open in your mind and soul that have rarely (if ever) been opened. It means that sometimes Sightings can be an uneasy listen: this isn’t the type of album you play as background music, rather it demands your full attention. The images your mind creates whilst listening to these tracks are stark and vivid, and whilst those images are often of the darker kind, the best art always comes in inky hues. Take ‘Choir And Night Fox’, for example; it’s a sleepwalkers stumble through a haunted woodland as spirits swirl overhead. Disorientating and discombobulating, such is the immersive nature of these songs that you’ll feel drained at the their conclusion.
A musical collage pieced together from studio and field recordings, Sightings features wide, sweeping sonic vistas, alongside intimate birdsong, and as such this is an album that will constantly reposition you and challenge your perceptions. A multidisciplinary artist who works in the theatre, literature and visual arts, Jarboe brings a little of each to this project, which makes Sightings a highlight of a glittering career.
- Sightings is released via Consouling Sounds on 3rd April 2026.
- Jarboe Official Website
Track List:
1. The Holy Waters
2. Francesca Sun
3. Choir and Night Fox
4. Breathe
5. Vireo Serenade
6. The Holy Waters (Sangha Mix) [CD & Digital versions only]
7. Of Ancient Memory (Oblivion Mix
