Canadian strings and synths artiste
Who She?
Canadian violinist and vocalist, best known as part of partner Efrim Manuck’s Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band. Moss has also added her distinctive violin to tracks by Arcade Fire, Manuck’s pre-Silver Mt. Zion unit Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Broken Social Scene and many others.
Why Jessica Moss?
Moss’ solo works are consistently compelling propositions. She released her first album, ‘Under Plastic Island’, on cassette in 2015, followed by ‘Pools Of Light’ in 2017. Moss’ music is a vibrant mix of drones and textures, held together by a melodic prowess deployed either through layers of synths or her distinctive, emphatic violin playing. She has also turned her hand to soundtrack composition, and the weighty responsibility of supplementing actions on the screen with a supportive musical narrative can be heard in her considered solo releases.
Tell Us More…
Moss’s third album, ‘Entanglement’, consists of two compositions – the 22-minute synths-and-strings of ‘Particles’ and its counterpart, the four-movement ‘Fractals’. Though the music uses quantum theory as its driver, ‘Entanglement’ is as much an allegory for the isolation and estrangement felt by Moss as she was travelling the world as a solo performer. That feeling is best exemplified by a long section of ‘Particles’ where all you can hear is her voice singing into the void, unaccompanied save for self-sustaining echoes. The movements of ‘Fractals’, mostly led by Moss’ stentorian violin, are plaintive, devastatingly thought-provoking and occasionally violent, placing her music somewhere along the continuum between minimalism and maximalism.
‘Entanglement’ is out on Constellation
