Even the most ravenous devotees of Toronto music might have overlooked Jordaan Mason — this is apparently the first time Exclaim! has written about them, 13 years after Jordaan Mason and the Horse Museum's orchestral folk masterpiece divorce lawyers i shaved my head, a genderqueer In the Aeroplane Over the Sea whose already sizable cult following grew after its 10th-anniversary reissue in 2019.
It's not too late to start listening: Jordaan Mason & Their Orchestra — another sprawling cohort of collaborators including lead arranger Marlene Bellissimo, AJJ's Sean Bonnette and several members of the Horse Museum — are releasing REWRITE THE WORDS AGAIN on October 21 via Mason's Unelectric Arts label. And, if the lead single is any indication, the album's gonna be a big one.
The announcement comes alongside opening track "NO MORE METAPHOR," seven and a half minutes of terse, vulnerable and verbose vocals ("I took a bus to another town, she left for the coast to become a ghost / Or at least that's what she became to me, someone I only see when I go to sleep / But even when it's a bad dream, it's always nice to see you, dear"), the distant thrum of percussion, and a muted chorus of horns and flutes. It all recalls mid-aughts baroque pop greats like Owen Pallett, Sufjan Stevens, Grizzly Bear and Beirut.
If this is just the first track, who knows what beautiful chaos awaits in the next 12. Listen to "NO MORE METAPHOR" below, and keep scrolling for more information on REWRITE THE WORDS AGAIN.
REWRITE THE WORDS AGAIN:
1. NO MORE METAPHOR
2. THE CITY WE LOVED IN
3. ANOTHER STORM
4. COLOUR MEMORY
5. PLAY THE HARP BADLY
6. SPIDERWEBHEAD
7. HOT BURNING STONE
8. AMSTERDAM
9. STILL ALIVE, SINGING
10. TWO OCEANS
11. TEMPORARY/WILD
12. REWRITE THE WORDS AGAIN
13. NO MORE TRAUMA
REWRITE THE WORDS AGAIN is available for pre-order.
It's not too late to start listening: Jordaan Mason & Their Orchestra — another sprawling cohort of collaborators including lead arranger Marlene Bellissimo, AJJ's Sean Bonnette and several members of the Horse Museum — are releasing REWRITE THE WORDS AGAIN on October 21 via Mason's Unelectric Arts label. And, if the lead single is any indication, the album's gonna be a big one.
The announcement comes alongside opening track "NO MORE METAPHOR," seven and a half minutes of terse, vulnerable and verbose vocals ("I took a bus to another town, she left for the coast to become a ghost / Or at least that's what she became to me, someone I only see when I go to sleep / But even when it's a bad dream, it's always nice to see you, dear"), the distant thrum of percussion, and a muted chorus of horns and flutes. It all recalls mid-aughts baroque pop greats like Owen Pallett, Sufjan Stevens, Grizzly Bear and Beirut.
If this is just the first track, who knows what beautiful chaos awaits in the next 12. Listen to "NO MORE METAPHOR" below, and keep scrolling for more information on REWRITE THE WORDS AGAIN.
REWRITE THE WORDS AGAIN:
1. NO MORE METAPHOR
2. THE CITY WE LOVED IN
3. ANOTHER STORM
4. COLOUR MEMORY
5. PLAY THE HARP BADLY
6. SPIDERWEBHEAD
7. HOT BURNING STONE
8. AMSTERDAM
9. STILL ALIVE, SINGING
10. TWO OCEANS
11. TEMPORARY/WILD
12. REWRITE THE WORDS AGAIN
13. NO MORE TRAUMA
REWRITE THE WORDS AGAIN is available for pre-order.
