Can music actually disappear, but somehow still be there? In conclusion, Jana Horn cannot answer this question either, but she comes frighteningly close to the solution. When the singer/songwriter from Austin, Texas, speaks rather than sings on her debut OPTIMISM, which was released on a small vinyl edition at the end of 2020, about aching bodies, futile efforts or lost love, as in the biblically inspired, epic “Jordan ’, then a barely imaginable rhythm throbs underneath and the instruments, guitars or a trumpet blow by like lost ghosts.
The appeal of such an almost complete desaturation of a sound has been known since the early cowboy junkies at the latest, but with horn it’s less about reducing the volume (although that’s also) and much more about reducing the feeling, much like hers great role model Leonard Cohen. The instrumentation seems oddly disinterested, almost lifeless, as if not wanting to shame the voice, which provides a laconic counterpoint to the existential sentiments and perennial doubts explored in the lyrics.
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