STEVE JANSEN – Tender Extinction – CD – SJ01

There’s a track here – a breathy cello, synths and strings instrumental – called Memory Of An Imagined Place. Jansen’s music from his days with Japan onwards has always carried the melancholy romanticism that title implies. Like monochrome arthouse films, his sound designs resonate with suggestion and nuance. Yet while there are prayerful passages of ambient elegy on Tender Extinction, there are also songs and collaborations which burst into rich colour. The brilliant Perry Blake, no stranger to a Scott Walker-esque ballad, joins Jansen for the yearning Her Distance, while Tim Elsenburg of Sweet Billy Pilgrim croons and co-writes the memorable Give Yourself A Name.

Chris Roberts / Louder Prog