Kara Jackson – Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love? (2 LP)
This is music made for our collective plea into the void to help us understand the existential. Full of poetic odes to the complex tangle of human relationships, “Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?” is equal parts in debt to both the joy and destructive power of love and how all roads lead to loss no matter what version of the emotion we are interacting with.
The title – “Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?” – is such a fantastic entry point because it acts as the ultimate mission statement for what Kara Jackson is communicating lyrically. All of the emotion and stark hushed spacious instrumentals mixed with Jackson’s ethereally divine vocal performance has you hanging on every moment. The record has such a cinematic sound considering how much space there is and it is the way that Jackson uses this space that makes her music so emotionally devastating. It feels like by being so personal with her words Jackson is trusting the audience to witness the pain she has experienced and to then feel the universal truth that life is full of love but in order to understand love we must confront the burden of loss and the deep sadness that everyone we pour joy into must also be mourned at some point in the journey of life. That sort of weight looms large across every song on the record and it helps to keep you in the moment of each track as the terror and joy of love are evenly challenged and addressed lyrically.
The music aches with familiar aesthetics and is rooted in the folk tradition but the arrangements are bright with Psychedelic dynamics which helps bridge the often earthy tones of the finger picked acoustic guitar with something a bit more space age and other worldly. It’s the way that Jackson uses the mood of each track to create this stillness that drives me wild. You relax into the atmosphere created and feel like you are having a life changing moment as the full album plays out. It is like the history of music, poetry and art are finding that sweet spot in the fabric of time and space and for just shy of an hour you get transported to a place of peace.
When you look up the meaning of intimacy you find it explained as a feeling of being close, and emotionally connected and supported. It means being able to share a whole range of thoughts, feelings and experiences that we have as human beings. That is the easiest way for me to explain “Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?” by Kara Jackson and how the music within it connects with me. I understand that we all consume and feel music and art on a different level but by attempting to answer the question of why we love, Kara Jackson has made a piece of art that shares a whole range of thoughts, feelings and experiences that we have as human beings and in doing so has made me the listener – and I hope anyone else who chooses to listen to her – feel emotionally connected and supported. It is powerful stuff and Kara Jackson is going to change the world and help bring peace to the galaxy.
Label: September Recordings – SEP-009
Country: US
Media Condition: Mint (M)
Sleeve Condition: Mint (M)
Sealed