If you can recall a time before the fresh and oh-so-clean hell of the 2010s, you might remember Jewelled Antler Collective-founder Glenn Donaldson’s project(s) The Ivytree and The Birdtree (circa 2001–2005). If so, you’ll be happy to hear that the project is being revived for an archival LP of unreleased songs recorded between 2001 and 2004 called Unburdened Light, and it’ll be put out on Sean McCann’s Recital label. Together, we can all take solace in an era when Twitter didn’t exist.
The idea for the LP germinated in 2017 when McCann reached out to Donaldson about putting together a potential compilation of The Ivytree’s greatest hits (so to speak). This transformed into an archival project featuring 12 unreleased tracks of Donaldson’s gentle folk bliss (or, to use the adjective in the press release, “tragically honeyed”).
Unburdened Light is out May 4, and you can pre-order it here. The first edition is limited to 300 LPs on black vinyl, and it includes an eight-page art booklet featuring collages by Donaldson himself. If you’re uncertain that your broken, cynical, internet-ified brain can handle such pastoral whimsy (it probably still can), you can check out an embed of album cut “All the White Plumes” below, alongside the full tracklisting. Now go plant a tree or something (perhaps one of the ivy variety?), and let it be a balm for all the garbage-fire evils of the modern world!
Unburdened Light tracklisting:
01. Thistle Beds
02. All the White Plumes
03. In Unison
04. All Your Lights
05. Unburdened Light
06. Evil is Circular
07. She is the Swallow (pt.2)
08. Quartered Sky
09. Vows
10. Weak Hands Can’t Hold the Picture
11. Oh White Heron (Coastal Version)
12. In the Black Air
More about: Glenn Donaldson, The Ivytree
