Track Review: Henry Jamison ‘Ether Garden’

Henry Jamison’s “Ether Garden,” is an unadulterated representation of the  vibe that his new album, Gloria Duplex, will encompass. Following his debut release The Wilds in 2007, the New England indie-folk rocker  communicates the exploration into reinvigorated masculinity.

This breathy, raw tune — akin to the admirable works of Ray Lamontagne or George Ogilvie — opens with the heartrending echo of a string’s continuum executed by Rob Moose, soon accompanied by a warm, accented guitar. The delicate, airy piano and simplicity of a violin sets the tone as Jamison delivers these lines:

“Oh, and the night falls now with / Someone’s mouth on the Ether Garden / And the gardener stands with blood on his hands / Besides the stone”

Jamison told TheFourOhFive, “Ether Garden’s relationship to the rest of the record is basically one of being a depth below the problems the other songs address, the depth at which an actual change could happen. ‘Ether Garden’ works to suggest that there is hope to alter these behaviors.”

The folksy ambience and Jamison’s cadences embrace the female’s silky vocals, influencing a being to introspectively acknowledge the mentality of being a man in today’s generation.

‘Ether Garden,” is the key component of the album and evidently dichotomized with “Gloria,” the opening track. These pieces target masculinity in today’s society which Jamison wrote to discuss, “the ways in which boys in our culture are recruited into a toxic fraternity, by each others, by their fathers.”

These anecdotes  have caught the interest of Atwood Magazine, The Wild Honey Pie and The Bluegrass Situation, while Billboard noted the song is “written like the Great American Novel.”

Gloria Duplex will be released on February 8th, 2019.