Me Lost Me - RPG (Upset The Rhythm)

What Your Ears Say & The Cover Looks Like

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What We Say

Me Lost Me has always been a restless musical soul & blessed with a voice that rings true & clear. Her obvious love of folk is refreshingly free from the weight of tradition, leaving her with the modern tools to explore & express this gilded age of first world blessed possibility & physical & virtual blurring with electronically enhanced creativity, augmented by some crack collaborators. Still searching for that bridge between worlds? Look no further.

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What The Release Notes Say

ME LOST ME delights in experimenting with songwriting and storytelling, creating a beguiling mix of soaring vocals and atmospheric electronics that playfully weave together disparate genres, drawing influence from folk, art pop, noise, ambient and improvised music. Hauntological in part, RPG (out on July 7th through Upset The Rhythm) is concerned with tales and with time - are we running out of it? Does insomnia cause a time loop? Do the pressures of masculinity prevent progress? Jayne Dent asks these questions and more on RPG, her homage to worldbuilding and the story as an artform, calling back to those oral traditions around a campfire, as well as modern day video games - bringing folk music into the present day as she does so.

ME LOST ME presents sound reaching in opposite directions, straddling time towards the archaic and timeless traditions of folktales, and towards the possible and potential futures of pastoral Britain and the world at large. Part speculation, part reminiscence, what results on the new album RPG is music that sounds ultimately displaced and yet omnipresent, adjacent to a hapless Vonnegut hero whose life is scattered throughout time and history, but full of wonder and curiosity rather than fear.

On track “The Oldest Trees Hold The Earth”, we see time stretched out between the branches of impossibly old beings in the woods. This track was co-written in Aarhus, Denmark with fellow Newcastle folk musician (with Danish heritage) Ditte Elly. The pair wordlessly passed a sheet of paper between each other to write the lyrics, inspired by Højbjerg and Mosegård, the woods they were sitting in. “How long should I wait/Before the moss grows?/On my skin, on my outstretched arms,” the lyrics are sung in a round, the close harmonies delicate and detailed.

A central thesis of this album is the joy of creation, something which is paid homage to in the album’s final track, “Science And Art” (Not because we need it to last/just because we needed to make it - so we invented the words/this language). It is also reflected in the definition that Jayne gives for “folk” itself. She comments, “To me, folk is quite an expansive idea. I think of it as creative work that's often made ad-hoc, with things that are at hand and more often than not it's born of a DIY ethos. It is songs and stories of the people, as in the traditional sense, but also creative coding, game design etc. Whatever outlet someone has for their creative expression could be described as folk. It's the things we make because humans need to make things, and the stories we tell about ourselves and the world around us.”

Crucially, on latest album RPG, Dent expands her songwriting and looks towards the unreal locations of worldbuilding in video games for inspiration. She comments, “I think the main similarity is the importance of a song's setting/environment to inform its narrative and textures, I'm often most inspired when out walking in the natural landscape, in cities and travelling to places I've never been before - the environment I'm in really impacts the work I make. While writing this album, however, I found myself inspired by imaginary landscapes, those in video games, paintings, etc. I was writing stories into these unreal locations instead. Even the songs inspired by real places, like The Oldest Trees Hold the Earth, have a very surreal quality to them in the songs, like they're being warped and turned into something not of this world. I think that's the main difference for me in terms of the thematic content and inspiration behind this album - I've been getting more and more interested in balancing surreal and fantastical environmental elements with ordinary and everyday settings.”

RPG upends the concept of the eternal return - we may be in the midst of inevitable repetition, but we tell stories whilst awaiting the passage of time.  creditsreleased July 7, 2023

All tracks written by Jayne Dent except:
Mirie it is While Sumer Ilast (trad. arr by Dent)
Side Quest (co-written Dent/Rhodri Davies)
The Oldest Trees Hold the Earth (co-written Dent/Ditte Elly)
Collide (co-written Dent/Faye MacCalman)

Vocals by Jayne Dent
Additional vocals on ‘Heat!’, ‘Mirie it is While Sumer Ilast’ and ‘The God of Stuck Time’ by Janice Burns, Holly Clarke, Robin Fry, Anna Hughes, Faye MacCalman, John Pope, Claire Welford, Adam Wilson-Holmes
Add. vocals on ‘The Oldest Trees Hold the Earth’ by Ditte Elly
Add. vocals on ‘Eye Witness’ and ‘Science and Art’ by Nat Halaseh
Add. vocals on ‘In Gardens’ by Nat Halaseh and David Littlefair
Speaking samples on ‘Real World’ by Adam Wilson-Holmes
Electronics, synth and piano by Jayne Dent
Clarinet by Faye MacCalman
Double Bass by John Pope
Violin on ‘Festive Day’ by Niles Krieger
Harp on ‘Side Quest’ by Rhodri Davies
Flute on ‘Until Morning’ by Sam Partridge

Produced by Jayne Dent
Co-Produced, engineered and mixed by Sam Grant
Mastered by Mikey Young

Instruments and vocals recorded at Blank Studios, Newcastle upon Tyne except harp (recorded at home by Rhodri Davies), add. vocals on ‘The Oldest Trees Hold The Earth’ (recorded at Anders Hjortdal Andersen’s studio, Aarhus, by Ditte Elly), add. vocals on ‘In Gardens’ (recorded at Noatune Studios, London, by Angus Cattapan).

Cover artwork by Lucy Wright
Layout and additional artwork by Jayne Dent

Thanks to all the amazing musicians involved in the album, it’s been such a joy to make this with you! To Sam for being such a dedicated, inspiring and encouraging studio presence. To Chris at Upset the Rhythm for being so enthusiastic and supportive, to Rarely Unable for all their hard work on getting the album heard!

Additional thanks to Rory for lending me the Kaoss Pad! To Mads, Kristian, Julia, Rory, David and Liam for arrangement advice and incredibly helpful feedback on demos and mixes, and to Maria for all the professional support. To the collective in Højbjerg for sharing your space and being such welcoming hosts. To all the artists I have had countless inspiring and encouraging conversations with over the last couple of years, I am so lucky to know you and to be a part of such a lush community!

Thanks as always to my family and friends for their love and support, Mum, Dad, Liam, Holly, Kat, Sarah, Melek and Kas.

Thanks to you - for listening to records and coming to gigs, to all in the DIY music scene who make it thrive through their hard work and passion! Your support allows me to continue doing what I love and I’m so eternally grateful!

J x

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For More roots leaning folk fusions head over to the Slow Folk Playlist