It begins with a flicker. The neon tubes above the »Light Showroom« hum, casting shadows that don’t belong where they land. Outside, a »liminal space« spreads out, a place without coordinates, just vibrating colors and voices from another layer of reality. It is in this state – somewhere between sleeping and waking, between recognizing and forgetting – that Mess Esque’s new album »Jay Mary, Comfort Me« unfolds. The Australian duo, consisting of Helen Franzmann and Mick Turner, does not build classical songs in their pieces, but rather backdrops of fog and reverb. Every note seems illuminated from within, every melody like a question that answers itself. Franzmann’s voice staggers through this fog of shimmering guitar lines and echoing beats, sometimes somnambulistically confident, sometimes siren-like seductive.
In »Let me know you« it sounds as if the music itself is wriggling out of a dream, while »Take me to your Infinite Garden« leaves you with the feeling of being trapped in a room with flickering lights, not knowing whether you are waking up or sinking deeper. Mess Esque does not tell stories. They lead us into a world where the truth(s) are fluid. If you let yourself in, you will not only hear but also feel how the dreamlike overlays the real until the two become indistinguishable. An album like a fever dream in which you can lose yourself – or find yourself.
