Influential avant‑garde icon Jarboe, known worldwide for her groundbreaking work with Swans, has revealed “The Holy Waters,” the opening track from her forthcoming album Sightings. The record arrives on 3 April via Consouling Sounds, marking a new chapter in Jarboe’s ever‑evolving artistic journey.
Described by Jarboe as “a transitory fiction into space,” the track acts as a ceremonial threshold into the album’s broader exploration of the natural, the spiritual, and the unseen. Built around a “vintage psychedelic treatment of the vocals” and anchored by hand‑drum rhythms and atmospheric textures, “The Holy Waters” unfolds like a ritual poem — a piece she calls “a poem of magical wings.”
At the core of Sightings lies a narrative shaped by Jarboe’s encounters with the natural world, particularly the elusive presence of the vireo, a small bird whose song often reveals itself long before its body can be found. This creature became the emotional and symbolic heart of the album.
Jarboe reflects on the inspiration: “The vireo is heard yet not easy to be seen as he blends into the green leaves. This is the heart of this project. I recorded this lively vireo one summer. One day, no longer hiding, he was on a branch a few feet away, and he captivated me every morning as I listened to the thousands of variations of his songs. I felt much joy and love as he sang. Later in the summer, another vireo appeared, and the two of them went up into the sky. Vireo was gone for a while, and then one morning, when I was outside, he returned to the nearby tree and sang before he and his friend circled in the air and left to begin their long journey back to South America.”
Sightings promises a richly textured sonic world where electronic and organic elements intertwine. True to her reputation as a “forward‑thinking queen of unreality,” Jarboe draws on a wide cast of collaborators and soundscapes that shift fluidly between dreamlike ambience, ritualistic intensity, and bold experimentalism.
With “The Holy Waters,” Jarboe opens the door to an album that feels both intimate and otherworldly — a work shaped by observation, transformation, and the quiet magic of the natural world. Link
Sightings tracklist:
01. The Holy Waters
02. Francesca Sun
03. Choir And Night Fox
04. Breathe
05. Vireo Serenade
06. The Holy Waters (Sangha Mix) [CD & Digital versions only]
07. Of Ancient Memory (Oblivion Mix)
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"There's much more detail in our music now than 20 years ago. It's also much easier nowadays because you can do many things at home." - Morten Lybecker
"We only make an album when we feel genuinely inspired. You can't just say, "OK, I'm going to record a new album", because without inspiration, it would be boring." - Gregor Mackintosh
"Sometimes an album just falls into place, and Rapture is one of those albums. From the beginning, I felt that things were lining up and everything was flowing." - Ashley Dayour
"I'm sort of asking questions - where are the heroes? Where's the defiance? Where are the people who oppose this?" - Alan "Nemtheanga" Averill
