under the world

"Under the World... shares qualities with the ocean - a feeling of tumult, foreboding and an awe-inspiring vastness."

-Nadine McBay, The National, 2019

Ranging from the quietly intimate 'Jeannie', through to the sweeping orchestral textures of 'The Demon Lover', all music is performed by Danz on voice, violin and piano. The album brings together classical and folk elements, featuring haunting vocals, the rich sound of a 1930’s Bechstein grand piano, and seductively layered violin textures.

All the music on the album is written by Danz, with the exception of 'The Falcon' - a re-imagining of a traditional melody paired with the ancient lyrics of the Corpus Christi Carol. The track 'Under the World' - from which the album takes its title - is inspired by two powerful female characters from Babylonian myth. In the penultimate work Danz takes the words of the superbly dark traditional ballad 'The Demon Lover', setting them to her own music to create a miniature folk-opera that builds to a thunderous finale.

"In 2015 I began a journey out of silence - after spending several years away from music I began to perform and write songs again after a long creative winter. I've always been drawn to the archetypal story of the descent to the Underworld: symbolic death and rebirth. As my musical voice began to emerge again, I felt the resonance of this ancient tale. Navigating grief, loss, metamorphosis and transformation, these songs are stories of how I found my way into - and out of - that hidden place under the world." -Jessica Danz

Under the World is available exclusively on Bandcamp.