Jamie Moon’s gentle guitar opens the Glasshouse EP with delicacy, and commands you to take a seat and listen to the lacy songwriting and beautiful delivery of ‘Atoms’. The sound of fingers sliding across strings makes for an incredibly intimate first track. It feels as if Jamie is there in the room with you, playing fingerpicked melodies which accompany his deep and emotive voice. It’s understated, but the gentle musical additions of strings, occasional percussive drums, xylophone and heavily reverberated fog creates a gorgeous sense of romance, which gradually builds towards the end of the song, and makes my heart skip a beat with how beautiful it sounds. ‘Cold Hands’ livens the track up with a faster paced number, and in addition to the acoustic guitar there is a heavily reverberated electric guitar which accentuates the vocal melodies with yearning decorations on the notes and adds further atmosphere similar to the previous track. The vocals are gorgeous, with gentle sweeping lines and tenderly sang lyrics such as; “watching people in the snow outside, it’s pretty cold out there tonight but you are another layer in my life. So please stay.” The melodies rise and fall, and it’s easy to be swept along with the utter romance and passion in the song.
‘You’ll Never Fool My Heart Again’ follows, with more agitated finger picking, it’s gentle but also has angst behind the notes. The constant fingerpicking throughout the track doesn’t let up and drives it forward keeping the listener on their toes with emotion. The harmonics on the acoustic guitar are soft and clear and shine through beautifully, whist the foggier lyrics and additional instruments build to a pulse-rising climax which erupts and sets the song to flight, which gradually comes back to earth as Jamie sings; “you’ll never fool, you’ll never fool, you’ll never fool my heart again”. It’s a beautiful track with enough grit to pull your heartstrings. ‘Glasshouse Kids’ sweetly follows, with a delicate beautiful chord sequence on guitar which makes you melt. Combined with sparse unassuming vocals and bittersweet lyrics, it’s the recorded equivalent of a room silencing song in a setlist. It’s spell binding and a lovely bit of gentle songwriting.
Ending the EP is ‘Bite The Wax’, which really suits its position, with an optimistic hue and a contemplative nature, the guitar is gentle, with delicate and yearning parts in vocals and electric guitar, it ends the album with a desire to listen to it all over again. It’s a gorgeous piece of work, which is easy listening with delicate but poignant emotion throughout demonstrated by the wimpering electric guitar parts, deep passionate vocals and bittersweet songwriting. Jamie Moon is captivating. To be captivated yourself, the album is now available on iTunes.
Review by Cassia Helme
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Lovely review of a smashing EP, Cassia!
Really good successor to ‘Luna’ – particularly enjoy ‘Atoms’