Jamie, Greg

***An established devotee of dark weirdness, Greg Jamie brings forth his second solo album on Orindal: Across a Violet Pasture. Across ten new songs recorded with his longtime collaborator Colby Nathan, Jamie journeys to the strange, enchanted center of his personal vision. This is a space between sleeping and waking, where Jamie’s woodsy, weary voice guides us forward.

It’s no surprise that the latest from the Maine-based musician and visual artist aims to haunt, but this experimental folk pop does it in a way that’s more playful than funereal. It lays a shimmering floor over the abyss.

The strength of Across a Violet Pasture is its intuitive rawness. It’s art made at home; the product of a deep inner life and a personal mythology. And like Greg Jamie’s uncanny watercolor paintings, this record juxtaposes muted, dark backgrounds with shocks of vibrant color. The “violet pasture” of the title evokes a mix of passionate red and cool, sorrowful blue. The resulting purple is mystical and a little extravagant. It’s a color hardly found in nature. And when it is, like the violet flower, it survives only in dappled forest shade. Admired by hermits, fauns, and idealistic weirdos, there’s a secretive, melancholy, and ephemeral beauty to this work.

"it's really, really good – in all of its dark weirdness and more."—GoldFlakePaint