Rael Jones’ new album, Mother Echo is released on 17th November, a date which holds special significance for the composer – it marks the 5th anniversary of his mother’s death, the inspiration behind the ten new tracks for piano and string quartet. The follow-up to his hugely successful debut album, Mandrake, which led to Fresh on the Net hailing him as ‘a special talent’, it sees Jones given the freedom to explore textures of sound and melody way beyond the film and television work which have made his composition so widely accessible, with his scores to TV programmes such as Harlots; The Salisbury Poisonings as well as films including My Cousin Rachel, starring Rachel Weisz and Sam Claflin, marking him as one of the most inventive and skilled British composers currently working.
Rael Jones is a composer and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his Film and Television scores. He has been nominated for three primetime Emmys; a World Soundtrack award and won a Golden Reel Award.
His liberal approach to music has seen him write for period dramas such as My Cousin Rachel and Suite Française, to collaborations with Oasis and Coldplay on the soundtracks for their documentary features. Recently, he scored BBC One’s The Salisbury Poisonings viewed by 10 million people in its first week.
Mother Echo is his most personal work yet, seeing him reflect on death, his childhood and the relationship with his mother. Rael explains:
“This is a deeply personal album for me. I’m attempting to translate emotions and life events into musical structures. My mum was in a car crash when I was six. She spent a lot of time after that in bed with whiplash and presumably depression. I was terrified she wouldn’t be there anymore. For instance, she asked me, “would you rather have a mummy in bed like this or not have a mummy at all?”
The artwork is based on a recurrent nightmare I had around this time – I’m alone in my house being dragged inexplicably towards a strange figure – death in human form. It touches my shoulder, our feet lift off the ground, and we fly through the lounge, past my gathered relatives and out of the bay window….at which point I wake up. The cover shows what lies past that window. It’s not so scary after all”
The tracks on the album point towards poignant moments in his journey with his mum through these moving experiences – for example:
“We scattered my mother’s ashes in the river at a place called ‘The Valley of Desolation’ (track 9).
We placed old passports in her coffin to assist her on her metaphysical journey, as she would have it (track 10). And so on and so on”
Recorded alongside his wife, Sara Wolstenholme, on first violin whilst she was heavily pregnant, it is a deeply affecting album charged with emotion but with great melodic flair and depth.
Press Release thanks to Quite Great PR Services.
Keep up with Rael Jones on his official website and stream the album on Spotify.