Quick – how many solo synth and violin artists can you name?  If you came up with more than three, we salute you.  We last encountered Marielle V Jakobsons as the “J” in EJS, whose album was included in our winter recommendations; but here she presents a new sound for a new season.  Glass Canyon is even different from her last solo outing, Ore (recorded as Darwinsbitch), in that her abstractions have grown more accessible.  This is not to say that these tracks are friendly, how-do-you-do handshakers, but that the album as a whole declares, “Your efforts to understand me will be rewarded within a reasonable span.”

The mood of these six pieces is reflective without being mournful; they betray a deep concentration, an attention to craft.  Synth and violin are not natural partners, but Jakobsons fits them together like soulmates on an internet dating site.  “From…