Jacob Alon - In Limerence

As its title suggests, Jacob Alon’s experience of heartbreak and longing colour much of their debut record, ‘In Limerence’. Throughout, there are powerful vignettes: of all-consuming feelings of unrequited love which result in becoming unrecognisable; of the physical ache that manifests from longing; of mourning something that is still very much alive; of wielding nostalgia as a blunt force weapon; of fighting off a partially self-induced illness in an attempt to gain closure or even acknowledgement - all paired with emotive guitar, particularly on ‘August Moon’.

‘Confession’ sees the Fife singer-songwriter strip their queer shame to the bone with a vocal turn that beckons in a similar manner to Jeff Buckley - soulful, yet haunting. Similarly angelic and soul-bearing, ‘Fairy In A Bottle’ holds a candle up to inspect love’s darker corners, while the purely instrumental ‘Home Tapes’ brims with nostalgia. Jacob’s tender touch on themes of fantasy, dreams and love feels earned across ‘In Limerence’, as if repairing themself via songwriting rather than declaring experiences from a distance. This transparency, in turn, is worth its weight in gold.