On these winter days, during Solstice – the dark tip into the end of the year, when the sun disappears and time slows down and closes in on itself, I often listen to Snowflake* by the singer and writer, Heather Mae Jones, which reminds me very much of this season. A magisterial song, full of deep meaning and resonance, layered with loss and longing, unrequited love, mourning and regret but qualified (redeemed?) by the fragility of hope – the echoes of which travel outwards and on and on.
From Snowflake:
“I could forgive you anything,
I’m not here to stand in your way,
I’m just struggling with the weather here and the short winter day.
What hell have I created here?
What was in this for me?
Suck it up baby,
well I know what your eyes are telling me.
When hope flies in on a plane from I don’t know where
She brings a snowflake and some sunshine and a feather for my hair.
I need a doctor and a politician to put a bandage on this incision.
Got to get over this need
Got to get over.”
As she says, suck it up baby. xxx
* The video shown on Heather’s myspace page is made by the brilliantly gifted film maker Dario Vigorito of 241-24-7
Heather Mae Jones aka H Jones x
Here is a small thing I wrote earlier this year about Heather (who I am lucky enough to count as a good friend, which I should declare now, I guess):
‘With her music having been variously described as possessing the lyrical sharpness of Patti Smith and of evoking Annie Oakley, Smith & Wesson, empty highways and empty beds, the Californian musician and songwriter, Heather Mae Jones has just released her first single, Midway City.
Originally from LA, and with impeccable rock n roll credentials, as a teenager Jones – then Heather Hiegel – was in the original line-up of Hole, before leaving to form The Hotshots with ex-Cramps bass player Candy Del Mar with Aaron Sperske of Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti on drums. Jones has collaborated with with an range of LA musicians, including The Beachwood Sparks and Bobby Bones of Sky Parade and The Morlocks.
On her marriage to Jim Jones, she moved to London where she still resides with her son, Jude. Since her displacement here, and wishing to free herself from “the confines of a band situation”, she has been writing, performing and recording her solo material and has also learnt sound and music production.’
Follow Heather on Twitter at @Hjonesx
Insect Ball/Midway City cover image
Happy Holidays! Xxx
Foggy Sapphires 