Jade Bird - Different Kinds of Light

Blending Americana textures and alternative fringing, singer-songwriter Jade Bird is back with her second album, ‘Different Kinds of Light’.

It's an ephemeral and atmospheric record, playing with dark and light tones as much as the title suggests. Pairing softly swinging country tones with delicate pianos and whiskey sweet guitars, it moves through moods and atmospheres with a gently cinematic touch.

From the driving jazz bassline of ‘Open Up the Heavens’, to the breezy pop pacing of ‘Trick Mirror’, the album paints a range of genres in Jade's own idiosyncratic sonic blend. It evokes the feeling of watching dust motes, suspended in a shaft of light, wondering if they’re fairies – and if the album sounds like watching them, its titular track feels like you’re up there with them, spinning through the air. The song’s cinematic mood is built up via its shining pianos and earthy guitars, holding fast the tension between the heavens and the ground.

From here, the album picks up the tempo, matching the giddy euphoria you might feel a few drinks in, before flatlining across the horizon. ‘Houdini’ is an elegiac lullaby, a song for tired eyes and heavy heads, while ‘Red White and Blue’ pairs campfire guitars with Tinkerbell vocals.

Confidently summoning forth alt-rock licks and sweet folk tones, the record showcases a version of Jade Bird who is all the better for her maturity, powerfully sculpting her sound like a master conductor. There’s a bite in the back of her melancholia, and a strength gilding her vulnerability like quietly refined vermeil. Standing tall at fifteen tracks long, the album encapsulates wide skies and wide eyes with an admirable sense of self-assurance and a touch of tender fragility.