Jo Mango has shared The Clock, the latest single (following the release of The Bed and The Windowpane) from her long-awaited new album The Lightswitch, out June 12th via Team Love (N. America), Noth Records (Europe) and Nature Bliss (Asia). The Scottish songwriter’s third solo album is her first in twelve years, following a career that has seen her write with Teenage Fanclub, Karine Polwart and Admiral Fallow, tour the world in Vashti Bunyan’s band, and share stages with Devendra Banhart, CocoRosie, Roddy Woomble, William Tyler and Richmond Fontaine.
The Clock was co-written with Louis Abbott of Admiral Fallow, following the pair’s work on When Tomorrow Becomes Yesterday, the project we covered in 2016 that paired songwriters with climate scientists and charities to ask how songwriting might help us reimagine the future.
“We decided to focus on the emotional component of thinking about climate futures,” Jo says, “and wondering why it is that some people refuse to engage with that crucial topic altogether, or pretend it’s not happening. I was going through a big loss at the time, and so in response, we decided to write this weird kind of love song, expressing how much loving someone can make you want to deny a future in which they might not be able to exist. At the same time as it does this though, it’s acknowledging the reality of that very scenario. So we hope it stands as a climate warning too.”
The single arrives with a live video filmed at Dystopia Studios in Glasgow — Jo on keys and vocals, Maya MacAdam on harp and omnichord, and Kim Moore on synths.
Produced with longtime friend Adem and inspired by Adrianne Lenker, Aldous Harding, Angel Olsen and James Blake, The Lightswitch is a concept album about Jo’s love for music, but also the fall-out of love, the shadow behind it, the emptiness left behind when the music draws to a close. “The album is about the nature of music, as much as it is about its effect, the things it brings with it, my relation to it,” Jo says.
Pre-order here: https://linktr.ee/jomango
Live dates:
1st June — Green Note, London
2nd June — Aatma, Manchester
17th June — The Old Bridge Inn, Aviemore
21st June — Leith Depot, Edinburgh (w/ Raveloe)
26th June — Saint Luke’s, Glasgow (full band + strings; special guest set from Adem)
2nd July — River Garden, Ayr
3rd July — The Tolbooth, Stirling