Jo Bartlett has released two new songs in the past fortnight.
These Simple Things appeared on Friday and builds on last year's Ghost Tapes 1 To 9, intertwining guitar and synth lines with a soft vocal over the top delivering a hard message.
"We don't know what tomorrow brings
The world's fucked up with all these things
I cannot begin to understand."
No prizes for guessing what has been the inspiration, with a further reference to "billionaires [...] stealing from our hands".
The song is accompanied by a charming, self-produced front room video, Jo performing against a backdrop of photos from childhood, family holidays and previous adventures in her music career.
Jo first aired an acoustic version of the song on New Year's Day, which you can (hopefully) access on the Book of Faces.
Time And Time Again is an uptempo electronic number, though lyrically speaking ploughs a similar furrough,
"I refuse to be part of your hypocrisy
The strangest thing is it's built on insecurity
You're telling lies
Like you think they're going out of style
But do you ever...smile?"
Again, the target of Jo's ire is clear,
"Another idea you claim for yourself
Is electric cars
And when you've sold our planet's health
You plan to fuck off to Mars"
A blunt message delivered with grace and poise. In the video, Jo is sitting on the sofa in her front room, singing calmly and assertively to camera, the grainy, hazy effects giving it the air of a transmission from the bunker following the collapse of society.
It was the similarity in both song's themes that prompted Jo to release them a fortnight apart on her Indie Through The Looking Glass label. Which is a win-win for listeners.
Quotingf directly from Jo, These Simple Things and Time And Time Again are "both available on Spotify and all the usual digital streaming platforms. They are not on Bandcamp yet, I’m thinking of doing a physical release at some point, I’ll let you know!"
Either way, two welcome additions to Jo's catalogue and 2025 as a whole.
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