Jo Mango
>> Paperclips and Sand
>> Lo-Five Records
Contained herein is an unreserved and steadfast apology for the flippant heresy of the last Jo Mango review I posted. The writing was ill advised and misdirected and Karma demands this be rectified. It’s the false sense of importance a laptop screen gives the diminutive writer in the early hours!
The album promo ‘Paperclips and Sand’ by Jo Mango, sent in by the fine fellows at everymatic, is far and away one of the best albums I’ve heard in a long time. There is no flab or filler here and neither should there be in a review of this work. Opener ‘My Lung’ is a heart-breaking lullaby, transmitted from a bygone era of folky wonder. It features instruments I have never heard before and is the closest, in aesthetic, to an acoustic Bjork as you’re likely ever to hear. Truly mesmerising.
The rest of the album follows suit in a similarly quirky and unpredictable manner: reminding you at every turn of the great album tracks in your collection but never once falling into the unkempt laziness of imitation.
This is indeed an album of untold beauty. The songs are those of delicate balance and hope-stained tears; the Damian Rice/Isobel Campbell comparisons Miss Mango has been receiving are just in their encompassing of an untainted talent.
It is now my main ambition to catch a show and become entranced once again.
Find this album (February 27th is a good time to look) and buy it – then tell everyone you know about it. Then keep it a secret.
>> Russell Moore
www.jomango.co.uk
