Charlotte Jacobs — atlas
a t l a s
Charlotte Jacobs
Release date: October 25, 2024
On Friday October 25, 2024, Charlotte Jacobs (she/her), the Belgian-born, New York-based vocalist, composer, and producer announces her debut album a t l a s via New Amsterdam Records.
Jacobs’ music has been called “fresh and different… a sonic adventure” (Bob Boilen, All Songs Considered) and her voice has been praised as “a singer-songwriter’s dream” (Atwood Magazine). The 9 songs on a t l a s play out like a half-remembered Greek epic of avant-pop proportions, piecing together earthy woodwinds, old-school synths, and shifting rhythmic patterns that enhance her myth-inspired spoken word and bilingual vocals, delivered in Dutch and English.
Throughout a t l a s Jacobs explores themes of mythology, religion, and cultural structures while empowering listeners to “become their own saviors in order to navigate the challenges in life.”
Lead singles ‘mala’ and ‘CYTMH’ veer from glossy hi-fi to scuzzy lo-fi at any moment as earthy woodwinds, old-school synths, and shifting rhythmic patterns enhance Jacobs’ myth-inspired spoken word and bilingual vocals, delivered in Dutch and English.
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The debut album from New York-based vocalist, composer, and producer Charlotte Jacobs plays out like a half-remembered Greek epic of avant-pop proportions, piecing together earthy woodwinds, old-school synths, and shifting rhythmic patterns that enhance her myth-inspired spoken word and bilingual vocals, delivered in Dutch and English.
Arranged and co-produced by Jacobs, a t l a s, her debut solo full-length—and first for the Grammy-winning label New Amsterdam Records (Arooj Aftab, Bryce Dessner, Julia Holter et al)—preserves the fluidity and vocal centricity of her 2021 EP The Shape of Wandering, once again using text as a means of grounding her musical ideas to give her storyteller’s heart a home.
Spanning both Dutch and English, the LP also incorporates spoken language for the first time, creating vocal dynamics that add depth and dimension. Jacobs played a large proportion of the instruments on
a t l a s while also working with a talented cast of musicians, including harpist Rebecca El Saleh, drummer Raf Vertessen, flutist/saxophonist Charlotte Greve, and violinist Hannah Epperson, who lend the record a contemporary classical flair. Engineer and producer Zubin Hensler also helped to steer the production.
Opener “Celeste” introduces one of the LP’s underlying themes: searching for that “god-like thing in yourself”, or being your own saviour, as Jacobs notes. This strings-laced reverie, brought to life by violin player Hannah Epperson, creates a sense of fairytale mystique that extends over nine chapters. Wonderment, mysticism, and feminism take hold, from the magical incantations of “Owl” and nod to the pastoral god of the wilds in “p a n,” to the folkloric polyphony and eerie, backwards-spoken phonetics of “CYTMH,” which evokes the iconic red room scene in Twin Peaks. a t l a s gives equal weight to both the narrative and musical elements, creating its own mythology that harnesses the Belgian artist’s love of literature.
“I have always been intrigued by god-like stories,” says Jacobs, referencing the album’s titular Atlas, the Greek Titan god who bore heaven on his shoulders. Coming from a western (Catholic) background, Jacobs has long been in search of a female narrative within these tales. “Why are all these men there? Where are the women's stories?” she asks.
“CYTMH,” the second track on a t l a s, evokes the heyday of Brooklyn warehouse shows. Here, a rickety lo-fi drum machine forms the driving beat of a standout cut that highlights the contrasting properties of her compositions, which can veer from glossy hi-fi to scuzzy lo-fi at any moment.
After segueing into the floaty flute voyage of “Xylem,” a t l a s shifts gears back to jazz. This piece was informed by the biological process of photosynthesis, as Jacobs notes, blending MIDI flutes with Charlotte Greve’s live flutes to encapsulate the organic-meets-acoustic approach of the LP’s soundworld.
Looping back to language, Jacobs explains that at the core of “Owl” was a desire to use certain pop elements, like the presence of a hook, “in a different environment”. Meanwhile, “pan” is sung in her mother tongue of Dutch. Here, a sinister synthetic sequence clashes with organic layers of saxophone and harp as Jacobs tries to put her childhood experience of anxiety and panic attacks into song. “In Dutch, we don't really have a word for anxiety, there's panic, there is stress, there's nervousness … But the specific word anxiety, we don't have.”
Ultimately, the scattered, life-affirming drums from Raf Vertessen on “mala” construct the heartbeat of a record that finds beauty in chaos and celebrates the curvy, non-linear paths we sometimes tread. a t l a s takes a leap into the unknown. “I jump, thoughts of water under my toes” she coos on “mala,” while on “Celeste,” she is here to “wake you up and scream at the top of the mountains.” Jacobs’s ambiguous lyrics leave enough room for the listener to infer their own strength and meaning.
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Track Listing
Celeste
CYTMH
xylem
Owl
p a n
a t l a s
Coryfee
DKVDW
mala
Album Credits
all music by Charlotte Jacobs
clarinet and drums by Raf Vertessen
flute and saxophone by Charlotte Greve
electric harp by Rebecca El-Saleh
violin by Hannah Epperson
backing vocals on p a n by Charlotte Greve, Rebecca El-Saleh and Beccs
piano on xylem by Zubin Hensler
all other instruments by Charlotte Jacobs
recorded at home in Sint-Gillis-Waas, at prospect place in Brooklyn, ny and at studio 44 Brooklyn, ny
recorded, written and produced by Charlotte Jacobs
recorded, engineered and mixed by Zubin Hensler
mastered by Joe Lambert mastering
photo front and back by Mayli Sterkendries
mua and styling by Louiza Vande Woestyne and Jana Roos
artwork by Mona Schietekat
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