Every Monday, 88Nine music director Erin Wolf shares a sonic gem she found using her nearly 20 years of new-music exploration experience. You can hear all her discoveries at 2 p.m. every Sunday on What’s All This: Adventures in New Music.
Milwaukee’s Ellie Jackson returns with a new single called “China Lights,” which — true to her artist motto — delivers “vulnerability and emotional exploration through guitars, stories, amplification and a careful balance of harmony and dissonance.” To distill: It offers both sides of the coin that you see flipping (or hear spinning).
Anyone living in Milwaukee associates the words “China Lights” with the seasonal attraction of fantastical lights that captivate the imagination and turn everyone into a kid. So a song centering around the local attraction should evoke heartwarming qualities, right? In this case, not exactly.
“China Lights” hovers over a dissolved relationship that never knew what it could have been. Again, it’s about tricks of the eye and of the heart, two versions of idealism. The winsome slide guitar from Will Hanson of Milwaukee’s Old Pup really amps up the pathos of the tough love lyrics in a tangible way:
Goodnight, China Lights
The idea of you was nice
You said I was kind
Baby, you were right
I hope you find romance
I'll find someone who can hold my hand
Goodnight, China Lights, goodnight
Produced by Milwaukee musician Joe Kirschling, Jackson is musically supported by a local crew of Hansen on slide guitar; Devin Drobka on drums; Barry Paul Clark on bass; and Caley Conway, Emily Wagner-Morrow and Max Janairo on vocals.
Find Ellie Jackson’s newest single streaming everywhere now, and be sure to check out a fresh batch of tunes on What’s All This: Adventures in New Music at 2 p.m. Sundays on 88Nine.
Episode playlist
- Ellie Jackson, "China Lights"
- Mabe Fratti, "Margen del indice"
- Los Campesinos!, "kms"
- Rubber Band Gun, "Face to Face (Vol. II)"
- Porches, "Itch"
- Xiu Xiu, "Common Loon"
- Pink Opala, "Veneno"
- Cass McCombs, "Sacred Heart (Demo)"
- Charif Megarbane, "Allarme"
- Penza Penza, "Charlie Loves Gracia"
- Kelly Finnigan, "My Love Is For You"
- Lupe Fiasco, "Samurai"
