Gwenifer Raymond – Jack Parsons Blues
Gwenifer Raymond channels cosmic inspiration through ‘Jack Parsons Blues’, the lead single from her upcoming September album, Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark. The Welsh guitarist shifts focus from earthbound folk horror to stellar exploration, trading woodland mysteries for infinite equations and rocket science fascination.
The track honours Jack Parsons, the 1940s rocket scientist who helped establish NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory while maintaining friendships with L. Ron Hubbard and serving as Aleister Crowley’s acolyte. Raymond finds his contradictory nature compelling – a brilliant scientist who embraced esoteric practices and met his end in a home laboratory explosion. Her fingerpicking captures this duality through Arabian flourishes and flamenco intensity, creating passionate music that mirrors Parsons’ boundless enthusiasm.
Raymond’s background as an astrophysicist turned musician adds authenticity to these cosmic themes. Her home studio recordings explore infinity concepts drawn from science fiction authors like Philip K. Dick, mathematical principles, and Grant Morrison’s comic character Tom O’Bedlam—an insane prophet finding sacred messages in urban chaos. The album promises movement from cosmic void to galactic plane, positioning listeners within hyperspace before launching toward unknown destinations.
Production maintains Raymond’s intricate fingerpicking foundation. Where Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain mapped Welsh folk horror landscapes, this new material reaches beyond terrestrial boundaries. The guitarist’s evolution from ‘Welsh Primitive’ pioneer to cosmic explorer suggests artistic maturation without abandoning technical precision or emotional depth.
