The Patterns Lost to Air are the sounds that once played, begin to dissipate and decay. They serve as metaphors for other transitions: physical, emotional, spiritual. Just before composing this set, Marielle V Jakobsons had been struggling with the effects of Long Covid, which had altered her compositional approach; in the way that Jakobsons reacted to her environment, the notes interact with the spaces in which they are played. In order to survive, some things – especially the illusion of control – had to be released, so that their natural future might unfold.
Given the illness, one might expect a melancholic record, but the opposite is true. While released in winter, the album’s first single and opening track is “Warm Spring,” a sign of things to come and evidence that the artist has already arrived in a different season in her life. The opening sounds are like the clacking of a train, followed by notes of deep peace. When the violin arrives, it is restive and even joyful, like an animal awakening from hibernation and realizing that it is still alive.
Fender Rhodes and Moog Matriarch are also prominent, nudging the timbre toward the electronic realm. This is especially true of “Everything Lost Remains,” whose pulse is established early and whose message is a comfort. The loops suggest the return of memories, experiences and hopes, while the hint of voice in the final third is like a song of contentment. “The Salt Rounds” begins with the sound of a ticking clock, lodging the piece in the temporal until this too is washed away in rising, oceanic chords. The chiming tones that appear mid-piece are dislodged from clocks and time, in one sense like the chronal distortion of Covid, but in another like eternal bliss. The title “Without You Inside Time” speaks of the tension between the always and the now.
The set grows softer as it develops, slowly nearly to a crawl in the penultimate piece, which ends in a single, repeating chime. This allows “Silently Spinning Around You” to emerge from the decay, chords unfurling with the sun, returning the album to the beginning and the warm, warm spring. A loop is like a season, the album is like a recovery, and everything good has come around again. (Richard Allen)
a closer listen 