Graham Reid | | <1 min read
Rain Swim
We encountered Tessa De Lyon under her given name Tessa Dillion as the singer and songwriter for the excellent Mystery Waitress. Their recent album Bright Black Night is wonderful and we concluded, “Bright Black Night – the title encapsulating the dichotomies in Dillon's astute, refined lyrics – is a rare one. It rocks as much as it penetrates”.
De Lyon is the name she goes as for her solo work, like this modestly titled collection of (mostly) just her at the piano, like a 10-song collection of working drawings and demos.
These are largely lyric-heavy mid-tempo pieces for loyalists but a few sound like they could be polished into something special, notably Olivia's Boots which comes with percussion, and the delicate miniature Artichoke which has all the hallmarks of expressive dream-folk.
The lilting Tuesday with Timothy Blackman is just a whisker or two shy of being completed and Rain Swim is outstanding, even as a spare demo, just waiting for a proper production and perhaps a string quartet.
So something more than just outtakes or cast-off demos -- and the best is in the second half -- but not quite an album for the wider audience.
But those who have followed the progress of Dillon/De Lyon will find much to be engaged by here.
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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here
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