Each Measure Review: Jacqueline Cordes

FEATURE

Jacqueline Cordes’ debut album Singularity is a cinematic journey through a meticulously detailed sonic world. Cordes is a 22 year old composer who brings her experience crafting soundtracks and her unique relationship to sound into her work. She describes her process as an “endless quest to create new musical worlds” driven by a specific type of synesthesia called chromesthesia. For Cordes, this means that music evokes very particular colors in her mind’s eye and she uses this sense to shape her compositions.

Ten tracks long and running about 32 minutes, Singularity is a largely instrumental album. The tracklist lays out the path through an odyssey complete with unearthly disaster, tragic loss, and the comfort of human connection.

The journey begins slowly with “Otherworld.” As the title suggests, a gently plinking piano eases the listener into a world that is not their own. Cordes builds a sense of curiosity and anticipation before introducing ominous synths that pull us deeper into this supernatural realm. A raspy quality in the synths suggest that whatever sinister force is at play here, is only just awakening. Right as the track gathers its strength, it drifts away—gone for now.

In it’s place, a duet of piano and bells wind together in an almost familiar melody for “A Child’s Song.” At first, it could be the tune of an ornate music box gently twirling a tiny ballerina. Then an eerie chorus of vocals give way to a childlike echo of the instrumental theme. The cyclical melody that once felt comforting now confines us, spinning the listener into its web.

So, the more optimistic opening notes of “Encounter from Beyond” come as a relief. Through the work of only piano and strings, this track teeters between grief and joy like a pleasant memory that you can’t quite keep hold of. The strings soar gracefully upwards to pitches that feel perilously high. The experience here is of a daringly bright moment in an unforgivingly bleak world.

Out of that suspended moment, “De tous biens plaine” jolts the listener into a more grounded sense of time. In this track, Cordes references a French Renaissance love song by the same name. The original lyrics tell the story of a lover as virtuous as a goddess. In Cordes’ version, however, the vocals are an indistinguishable, distant suggestion of this reality. This contrasts with the more traditional instrumental and the effect is one of having landed squarely in a fantasy world that feels like our own even though it isn't. “De tous biens plaine” keeps with the tone of the rest of the album but the more familiar elements cut through the tension, allowing the listener to escape the oppression of the otherworld and orient themself in something they can understand.

Thus, the way is paved for “Amber Sky.” Played exclusively on piano, the rolling wave of notes in this tune contain depth and expansiveness. It’s the first track so far that feels firmly human. Crests of vulnerability meet warm harmonies to suggest a sort of quiet empowerment. In this moment, we experience the joy of finding companionship and connection in the midst of an arduous journey

After granting us these couple minutes of safety, Cordes offers us “Reality 101 Failure Intro.” This track is the gentle nudge that turns us back towards our quest to conquer the frightening forces at large. Less than a minute long, it is an interlude in the form of a synth sound bath. Deep tones ground and steady the hero for their next encounter with whatever it is they must face. Here we are reminded of the otherworld but, armed with the courage of “Amber Sky,” it does not overtake us.

Back on the path, a threat emerges in the distance. “Tunnel (Running Theme)” opens to a quiet rumbling that could be a far away storm or, just as easily, unknown wickedness infiltrating our surroundings. A pulsating bass approaches like a warning signal before tense keys and sinister synth sweep across the soundscape. This is a confrontation with something pure evil. A muffled, rhythmic pumping in the background sounds like your own heartbeat pounding against your eardrums. An ascending tone feels like a siren and then, abruptly, it ends.

Now face to face with “The Pursuer,” we know know better than to trust the first few seconds of elegant piano. Sure enough, a grave and dreadful melodic theme emerges. It moves from the piano to deep legato strings. It is the embodiment of something unwelcome seeping through the cracks. Gradually, Cordes directs the strings higher and higher until they overtake the delicate piano. The tension breaks briefly for a flute solo and it presents us with the notion that this force, though evil, is awe inspiring. Instrument upon instrument pile on as Cordes creates a full arrangement brimming with exquisite doom.

“The Pursuer” would be right at home on the soundtrack to a Tim Burton film and Cordes does list Danny Elfman as one of her major influences alongside Radiohead, Depeche Mode, Trent Reznor, and Łukasz Michalski. After a final crescendo, the arrangement falls away once again to expose one final iteration of the theme on piano.

Cordes allows us a few moments to settle before the postlude to “The Pursuer” begins, restoring a sense of human vulnerability. This piano piece conveys a sense of shock in the wake of destruction. While the melody weeps over fresh horrors, there is an urgency to the accompaniment. This song is a search for resolution.

In response, Cordes grants us “Aurora.” This last track is a moaning, ambient soundscape sprinkled with sparse bells. Wide open vocals serve both as a primal release and a cry summoning the power of good. Cordes withholds total relief but sparks of light do glint through the heavy blanket of sound with increasing frequency. “Aurora” is hope rising from the ashes and in the final minute of the final track, a sudden brightness erupts.

Through Singularity, Jacqueline Cordes proves herself to be an intuitive and detailed composer capable of captivating storytelling. Through the thoughtful and dynamic arrangement, Singularity will leave listeners with a sublime curiosity about the world it contains.

KEEP UP WITH JACQUELINE CORDES BELOW: