Last time Folk and Tumble reviewed Oxlip (the artist also known as Jayne Trimble), her mother was a peacock. This time, she’s having conversations with the dead. That’s why we love her – and that super-sense of gothic drama.
Half way between here and some other world, ‘I Said You Must be Leaving’ is as enigmatic, enchanting, ethereal as we’ve come to expect. Her dark Chekhovian twists and turns, intuitive sense of drama, disappointment and the darker emotions are out in full force for this new album of eight strong songs recorded in a four day whirlwind visit to Sonikwire Studios in Los Angeles, with the well-known indie producer Damien Jurado.
The experience was incredible, Damien is a mastermind, and a hero of mine.
Oxlip is a mastermind in her own right, and she’s riding on the crest of a remarkable wave of powerful creativity. At last garnering the recognition she deserves. she was a nominee for Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2022 Canadian Folk Awards. Her ability to take themes and mysteries, make them her own to sing the stories of much maligned, abandoned and wronged women. it’s as if she lets those voices into her own soul, and gives these women a voice through her own being. She makes of herself the vessel of truth – in a way few others ever could.
It’s as if something supernatural is at work. “I watched Unsolved Mysteries and wanted to intuit what I believed the victims of a Japanese Tsunami might want to say…” she says about her sixth album.
The album opens with ‘I Said You Must Be Leaving’ – a particularly evocative, mellowly memorable tune that brought Judy Tzuke to mind for some reason. ‘Wayward Woman’ tackles the shame of church and state – the horror that was the mother and baby homes of Ireland. It is a sad tribute to the women who suffered for so long, carrying their pain and
despair to the grave.
‘Salt’ is stunning work – almost sublime in its purity and innocence.
Lighter than a dream, Stronger that the pale
My Spirit always touching you from beyond the veil
Ideal listening for the Halloween season – to Samhain and beyond.
Released on World Peach Records. A boutique recording studio and label for women (which was established by Oxlip herself), another creative, inspiring method of giving women their voice. That’s the Oxlip strength and courage shining through again.