Jo Schornikow – Altar

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Stepping out from behind the keyboards in Phosphorescent, Jo Schornikow shows the strength and determination of a woman who has discovered her own Altar. There’s a clarity to her thinking that, as revealed in a recent interview, comes from finding herself again after feeling lost in parenting and having the time to examine the things going on in her own life.

There is a bounce and beat to “Lose Yr Love,” piano and organ pealing, yet the lyrics push in the opposite direction. If there’s such a thing as a cheery song about loving and losing, this seems to be it. “You slip into the night/ Such a quiet way to lose your love/ No final fever fight;/ It’s such a quiet way to lose your love.” Obviously, there’s hurt and uncertainty about what comes next, but there’s also a sense of resignation that this is just the way it’s going to be.

Yet, it’s not all easy going. “Patient” is unremittingly heavy; the bass slowly pummels you into submission as Schornikow sings, “There’s an understanding; I am there for you/ In darkest night when all your worst dreams are passing thru/ You crawl into my bed with guilt and guile and innocence and, all the while, I am waiting.” Yet the final verse plays out in soft focus, a chorus singing softly against synths and guitar. The heaviness is still there, only now it’s whispered. In the opening, Schornikow says that she’s patient, yet by the end, the question is more one of whether the person she is singing about is actually a patient.

Schornikow has spoken about Altar as being something of a rebirth for her, ready to rejoin a more adult world after time with the kids, and the lyrics have a maturity that asks as many questions as it answers. “Wrong” is a confession of sorts, dealing with mistakes made. “I was wrong too; I was much older then/ Holding on to all mystery & manner of pretend/ I was wrong – in thinking you’d be there when I came to/ I was wrong – Wrong about you.” While there may be plenty wrong, her organ solo is a thing of beauty, wild and willful.

Schornikow seems to be writing from experience on “Altar.” There’s a kitchen sink attitude to the production with layers of instruments, organ, and guitar all building on top of each other as she sings about the altar that she’s built. “Just candles and sand and smoke rising/ It’s still warm but yr not there anymore/ It’s still warm but yr not there/It’s still warm but yr not.” With that, the scene fades to black. What Jo Schornikow writes for Altar is, in many ways, like a movie where the images you see last long after it’s over, and you replay them again and again in your mind.

Listen and Order: https://smarturl.it/jo-schornikow