Me Lost Me is the project of Newcastle-based artist Jayne Dent, whose music has been described by fellow Newcastle Maverick Richard Dawson as beguiling, idiosyncratic and cinematic – hitting the sweet spot between ancient and modern. In 2023, we shared her video for Festive Day (from RPG), inspired by seasonal rituals and English folk traditions. While these traditions, including May Day celebrations, Morris dancing and well-dressings, inform her new single (out tomorrow) and video, Ancient Summer, she has spun her music in different directions from that of previous releases.
On Ancient Summer, Dent delights in experimenting with her songwriting, creating a beguiling mix of soaring vocals and atmospheric electronics that playfully push the boundaries of genre. The single is taken from her forthcoming new album, This Material Moment (out 27th June via Upset the Rhythm), which she describes as “emotionally raw” and deems it her most honest and vulnerable album yet.
About “Ancient Summer”, Jayne comments that “This was the first song I wrote for the album and the first time I’d made a mesostic poem. Taking words from a tourism leaflet for Pont du Gard, a Roman Aqueduct and art museum near Nimes, France, I wrote this song that’s got so much wonderfully hyperbolic and excited language. It reflects quite well how I felt at the time of visiting, I was so moved to be swimming in a river in this beautiful valley under an ancient monument. It’s a song that comes from suddenly noticing your place in time and space, that feeling of being in communion with a past and a future, of being a part of something bigger than yourself. Visiting historical sites is one of my favourite things, and this is a bit of a love letter to the places that I’ve been lucky to visit over the years.”
“The music video,” she says,“is a kind of nod to ancient Roman Spring/Summer festivals and the English folk traditions I grew up with, like May Day celebrations, Morris dancing and well dressings. In summer 2024 I worked on some music for a dance project with some incredible performers including Lizzie Klotz, Rosa Postlethwaite and Alys North, which was on the theme ‘Abundance’. The process was really beautiful, and I knew I wanted to work with them on this video because it had a similar theme and feeling, plus I knew I could trust them to throw themselves into whatever daft thing I suggested we do! Videographer Amelia Read joined us on Newcastle’s Town Moor to film us dancing and playing games, it was very collaborative and intuitive which was perfect, as I wanted the video for this song to be joyful and light (with a hint of folk horror elements going on too of course!)”
Pre-Order This Material Moment: https://upsettherhythm.bandcamp.com/album/this-material-moment
Me Lost Me is always evolving, and with This Material Moment, she puts into practice the automatic writing techniques she developed during a workshop with Julia Holter, and in the process has spun her music in different directions that draws on poetry, psalms and using mesostic poems and phonetic translations to generate words. “Despite the chance-based writing strategies throughout, it feels like the most emotionally raw album I’ve ever made,” she says, likening the process to a Rorschah test which revealed things to her she wasn’t expecting to express. “I wanted to hide in stories, but I saw things plainly when I tried to write.” Having finished the writing process, Jayne realised that she had an unexpectedly personal album on her hands, into which her feelings of burnout and overwhelm had crept unconsciously. “Several of the songs for me express a kind of inner conflict, where you’re trying to keep hope and desire and beauty and art near to your heart, to live a meaningful life, but finding that increasingly hard to hold onto in a world that’s so fucked up.”
This Material Moment was written and arranged solo, but played with a core band of John Pope on electric/double bass, Faye MacCalman on clarinet, and now with the addition of Ewan Mackenzie (Dextro/Pigs x7) on drums – bringing in live drums and electric bass for the first time. The album was recorded by Sam Grant at Blank Studios in Newcastle, who also worked on RPG.
ME LOST ME LIVE DATES 2025:
Thursday 29th May – Livestream gig (filmed at The Old Hairdressers in Durham) [tickets]
Saturday 31st May – Queens Hall, Edinburgh [tickets]
Friday 18th July – Album Launch Gig, Live Theatre, Newcastle [tickets]
Saturday 2nd August – NightGarden Festival, Manchester [tickets]
Wednesday 6th August – Album Launch Gig, St. Pancras Old Church, London [tickets]
More: https://www.melostme.com/