Friday, March 16   10:00 p.m.
The Hideout   (617 Congress Ave)

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  Essie Jain - Glory
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We Made This Ourselves, the first album from New York-via-London expat Essie Jain, is a work that finds beauty in shadow, quiet, and empty space. Accompanied by piano, the stylings of long-time guitarist Patrick Glynn (as well as the occasional stringed instrument and drums by Jim White of the Dirty Three), Jain's spare vocals stand out like dusty rays of light in a darkened room. One gets the impression that she is surrounded by an entire orchestra, each member waiting for his or her moment to play before fading again into stillness.

Jain, who moved to new York in 2001, spent her first few years in the city playing behind closed doors. She absorbed the musical climate of the city, collaborating with different musicians.. In 2004 she started recording at home with an 8-track. This gave her the freedom to experiment. An ascetic's creed of music-making presented itself: Let the songs be roughly hewn. Keep them minimal. Avoid all indulgences. Let the music get as dark as it has to be. She let her own experience of loss and hope shape the lyrics that are so central to the album.

The result is We Made This Ourselves, a wrenchingly emotional record whose title reflects the music's sense of having been carved carefully and painfully from its maker's life. At their core, Essie Jain's songs are melodies strung out on one fragile, haunting note. Yet they sound indestructible. The powerful minimalism of this record is undeniable, and you will hear more in its silences than in a dozen louder albums' noise.