TESSA ROSE JACKSON - The Lighthouse

Without any prior announcement, the new album by Dutch songwriter Tessa Rose Jackson stirs up the calm waters of contemporary folk with a manifesto of purity and beauty that benefits from the dream-pop excursions of her records released under the name Someone, the moniker under which she put out three albums before reverting to her birth name for this, her fifth project.

Inspired and richly, harmonically accomplished, “The Lighthouse” steps firmly into the territory of songwriters like Aldous Harding, without giving up an elegant, mature pop verve (“Built To Collide”). Tessa Rose Jackson's songs possess an impressive melodic breadth that will delight fans of Fiona Apple and Paul Simon (“The Bricks That Make The Building”, “The Man Who Wasn’t There”); these compositions thrive on genuineness, enchanting the listener with disarming simplicity and creative ingenuity (“Grace Notes”).

The Amsterdam songwriter engages with the graces of indie-pop without losing her candor and charm (“Fear Bang The Drum”), reaching poetic and lyrical apotheosis on the radiant “By Morning”, though it's the closing “Prizefighter” that earns the title of the album's most poignant, empathetic song.

Elegant and effortless (“Wild Geese”), musically flawless yet essential and intense at once (the title track), “The Lighthouse” never falters, either expressively or compositionally. Songs like “Dawn” and “Gently Now” are easy to love, but also rich in detail that renews their appeal with every listen.

A thoroughly focused album, brimming with fine melodic and lyrical insight, Tessa Rose Jackson's new project is a display of maturity and consistency that rewards a career deserving greater recognition on today's scene — perhaps starting a reappraisal from the underrated 2021 album “Shapeshifter”, released as Someone.

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28/02/2026