Hear Jack Name & Aoife Nessa Frances team up on new Mexican Summer single
STREAM: “Watching The Willows Burn” –
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“Watching the Willows Burn” is the outcome of Jack Name and Aoife Nessa Frances’ first collaborative encounter, and a study in secret song and ancient ritual. Introduced by a mutual acquaintance on a hunch that an undiscovered sonic kinship might exist between the musicians, Jack and Aoife fell hard and fast for each other’s respective 2020 albums, Magic Touch (Mexican Summer) and Land of No Junction (Ba Da Bing/Basin Rock).
With a mutual admiration cemented, the two musicians established a remote rapport and began exploring themes of moon rituals and divine feminine energies before settling into a work pattern. From Los Angeles, Jack developed the body of “Watching the Willows Burn,” architecting the song and adorning it with instrumentation, eventually sending it to Aoife. From Dublin, Aoife worked out the vocal melody and lyrics, in peak writing form having recently completed tracking her follow up album to Land of No Junction.
The end result of this exchange verifies the suspicions that originally convened Jack and Aoife. The sonic dimensions and intentions of “Watching the Willows Burn” work in wide open ways, the alchemy of Jack and Aoife’s separate but cosmically in tune talents manifesting in a melodic, magical moment.
“A lot of our conversations drifted into topics like mysticism and ancient history. We imagined a struggle between a peaceful group of moon worshipping people and maniacal totalitarian warlords. That sent us down a stream which eventually led to the different things willows can symbolize. It’s interesting how they can stand for purity and nourishment and also grief and death. So what does it mean to watch them burn in the dark? Perhaps a rebirth, whether healing or destroying, depends on who’s watching.” – Jack & Aoife
AOIFE NESSA FRANCES TOUR DATES
Thu 19-Aug UK Brecon Beacons – Greenman Festival
Thu 26-Aug UK Bethesda – Neuadd Ogwen
Sat 28-Aug UK Brighton – The Hope and Ruin
Sun 29-Aug UK Bristol – Rough Trade
Tue 31-Aug UK London – The Lexington
Wed 01-Sep UK Oxford – Fusion Arts
Thu 02-Sep UK Leeds – Hyde Park Book Club
Fri 03-Sep UK Larmer Tree – End of the Road Festival
Sat 04-Sep UK Manchester – Manchester Psych Fest
Sun 05-Sep UK Glasgow – Mono
