February 18, 2019

On Treacherous Terrain with Lily & Madeleine and Gemma Ray

Underrated veterans deliver the goods again

Album Review

They’re not outrageous. They don’t strike out in bold new directions. But Lily & Madeleine and Gemma Ray consistently turn out strong albums, quietly compiling impressive bodies of work. Overlook them at your peril.

Lily & Madeleine
Canterbury Girls
New West

Sisters Lily and Madeleine Jurkiewicz specialize in lustrous, piano-based pop highlighted by the kind of magical vocal harmonies that siblings can seem to achieve so naturally. Their most affecting album yet, Canterbury Girls is a bracing mixture of opposites, blending beautiful sounds and harsh sentiments with deadly skill. “Self Care” observes, “Your beautiful eyes are sad and scared/But I can’t make myself care”; “Bruises” amplifies the sense of numbing alienation, confessing, “You said I was enough and I felt nothing.” It’s not all gorgeous disconnect: “Supernatural Sadness” adds a bracing dash of ‘70s dance grooves, and “Analog Love” celebrates midnight romance. Ultimately, though, this haunting work feels like an unsettling visit to treacherous territory.

Gemma Ray
Psychogeology
Bronzerat

Britain’s Gemma Ray has been practicing her evocative brand of dreamy pop for more than a decade. With ominous melodies that wouldn’t be out of place in a James Bond or Hitchcock film, Psychogeology mixes her cool, poised voice with tales of emotional extremes, to striking effect. “It’s Only Loneliness” offers reassurance amidst desolation, while “Blossom Crawls” finds her declaring, “I’m ready to jump/I’m ready to be happy.” Handled with less finesse, “In Colour” could become a splashy hit megaballad. This enticing album makes great late-night background listening, but rewards close attention, too.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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