Some songs drift from the speakers as if clouds in the ether, with wisps of delectable melodies and billowy rhythms building, from time to time, into thunderous discord. Such is the case with A Mirror Sometime, a seven-song EP from singer-songwriter Tessa Rose Jackson. It’s a pop-art dreamscape set to song, in a sense, akin to stenciled stars seemingly splattered across the expansive canvas that is the night sky. It’s light. It’s dark. It’s deep. It’s stark.
The set opens with “The Boulder,” one of two songs she wrote with—and that feature—Milo Groenhuijzen of the Shells. Their voices blend together as if gradients of the same hue, with the two singing like Sisyphus about pushing a proverbial rock up a hill. The optimism at the start of one’s career, of believing the big time is sure to follow the slog through spilled beer and soggy clubs, ebbs into a sea of doubt. Such expectations and disappointments aren’t unique to the music biz; pretty much everyone dreams big before settling for contentment.
Amsterdam-based singer-songwriter Nana Adjoa contributes to “Wildfire,” a slow burn about smoothing a relationship’s wrinkled pages. “Hell or High Water,” which follows, explores the wisdom one accrues through the years; the press release quotes Jackson as saying, “The inevitable transient nature of life actually acts as a motivator to go with the flow a little. A bit less ‘my way or the high way.’ A bit less ‘come hell or high water.’” That it features Longwood, who’s been a close friend who now lives in Canada, adds to the song’s colour.
The atmospheric “Anti-Hero,” written with and featuring Franklin Mansion, aka Irish musician Christopher Matthewson, and composer Darius Timmer, explores life through the eyes of an outsider—a romantic Sisyphus, if you will—who wishes only to fit in and find love. Another collaboration with Milo Groenhuijzen, “Stick in the Mud,” follows. I spotlighted it when it was released as single last September; as I said then, “It reminds me of the lofty pop found on Top 40 radio in the mid- and late 1970s, when layered songs filled the air. It’d be as at home sandwiched between Roberta Flack and the Bee Gees as it would, to bring things into the present, Lucy Rose and the Staves.” I’d only add, in less lofty language, that it possesses a near-narcotic quality; one listen and you’ll be hooked.
Caoilian Sherlock cowrote and performs on the lush “Sad Duet,” about the dying embers of a relationship, which lives up to its title; one can imagine it colouring a scene in a romantic drama, with the two principles split-screen before one hangs up and the other continues with their confessions. “The Antidote,” written with and featuring Noon Garden, is another cinema-worthy song, this time about stepping outside of one’s comfort zone—an addictive substance if ever there was one. It’s soft psychedelia, in a way, dreamy, with their interwoven vocals welling as large as the music that surrounds them. It’s a dramatic and compelling end to what is a dramatic and compelling set.
The press release also quotes Jackson, who splits her time between London and Amsterdam, as saying, “A Mirror Sometimes is a passion project that coloured my year magical. It started out as an experiment—writing with songwriters I admire to shake up my creativity—but it turned into something much more profound. Each collaboration brought a new spark of inspiration, reminding me of the pure joy of making music.” That joy, I should add, can be discerned in the result.
In the past, Jackson released her music under the moniker Someone; Owls, her last studio set, is a dream pop delight that’s well worth a listen, while her contributions to the soundtrack for the Life Is Strange: Double Exposure video game, released last year, are equally cool. As cool: her artwork, which is available via her website.
The Old Grey Cat 
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