Tessa Rose Jackson, “The Lighthouse With Strings” (Live at Metropolis)
Lighthouses have a certain place in my world. I remember walking along the beach at Tynemouth and seeing the lighthouse out on the rocks, its light shining through the darkness, offering hope and safety in the stormiest of seas. Having become interested in tarot recently, I have found the lighthouse an intriguing symbol because it seems to capture something of the dual energies of the Hermit and the Tower.
As a structural mirror to The Hermit, the lighthouse embodies solitary wisdom and profound inner illumination. It is a lonely sentinel positioned at the edge of the world, housing a single, focused awareness dedicated to piercing the dark. Yet there is a warning here too: the thin line between enlightened solitude and the creeping madness of total isolation.
After years of releasing music under the pseudonym Someone, Tessa Rose Jackson returned to her own name in 2024, describing The Lighthouse as her most personal record yet. Perhaps, then, the hermit has finally stepped out into the light.
Conversely, when the storm breaks, the lighthouse begins to resemble the Tower. It represents structural strength under shock—a fixed point of resilience as waves crash against its foundations. Its piercing light cuts through the darkness, exposing both danger and safety. Yet the lighthouse has no agency to pull a battered ship to shore or steer the traveller’s wheel. It simply illuminates the landscape and leaves the final choice to the traveller.
So, will this EP deliver safety or danger to the listener?
“The sound of a string quartet is one of the most emotionally charged sounds to me. So when the idea arose of arranging a chunk of songs from my album “The Lighthouse” for string ensemble, guitar, and Wurlitzer, I was immediately buzzing with excitement. In this age of perfection and polish, I wanted to make the recordings as truthful as possible. With that in mind, we recorded it live, all together, at Metropolis Studios in London during the course of one magical day. We will be touring in exactly this set-up this autumn and winter, and so this feels like a perfect little human time capsule.”
The Review
The EP was released on September 4, 2026, and contains seven songs running to just over 32 minutes. Recorded live at Metropolis Studios, it certainly feels like a performance rather than something polished into submission. There is a warmth and intimacy here that makes the listener feel as though they have been invited into the room.
“The Lighthouse” (Live at Metropolis) opens with the strings getting ready before slipping into a folk story of fading memory and being away. It is intensely intimate and immediate—”the air starts to change.” Musically, it reminded me of early Clannad, with its sense of highlands, brooks, and gently flowing water through a forested dale. It carries you along rather than demanding that you follow.
“Gently Now” (Live at Metropolis) is appropriately titled. This isn’t so much a sad song for winter as a gentle breeze of autumn, complete with a “soft coat of lavender.” The vocals drift with the wind while memories sit quietly alongside us. I found myself sitting back and relaxing with this one, cup of tea in hand. You can’t really be stressed while listening to it; it has the musical equivalent of a calming ability, even when the metaphorical storm is raging outside.
“Built To Collide” (Live at Metropolis) continues the EP’s theme of bringing these songs to the listener as they were recorded. The strings echo the verses, giving the song a little more bite in a track where advice can come back and bite you. “We all need a mirror sometimes,” sings Tessa Rose, with the word “sometimes” returning as an echo. This one pulled me out of my relaxed frame of mind. I wasn’t entirely comfortable with it, although perhaps that discomfort is part of the point.
“By Morning” (Live at Metropolis), at 3:13, is the shortest track on the EP and works beautifully as a folk ditty. Conversational vocals sit alongside violin strings that seem almost to weep and “break through the heart.” It is a song of metaphors, lyrical play, and even “solar-powered thinking”! Dreamy and slightly whimsical, this is a song for late evening about mornings.
“The Man Who Wasn’t There” (Live at Metropolis) is an intriguing lyric. This is storytelling folk, with the acoustic guitar providing a campfire feeling that draws the listener in. The backing strings add depth and a sense of suspense, bringing that mysterious man gradually closer. But just who he is remains tantalisingly unclear.
“When Your Time Comes” (Live at Metropolis) changes direction with a clap-along rhythm. It is a song about death, with a great deal of winter running through it—and a tale involving one magpie rather than two. It becomes a cleverly constructed story of ghosts and newly discovered courage. I actually thought this was a very clever track, but my enthusiasm for contemplating my own mortality was not particularly high today. There are some songs you need on the right day, and this was not my right day.
“Wild Geese” (Live at Metropolis), at 6:09, is an expansive finale, with instrumentals that seem to take flight. It took me towards lemon trees and nesting birds, giving me a hint of spring within a song rooted in late autumn. Tessa Rose Jackson has a lovely vocal tone, while the lyrics pull at memory, dates, and moments: “When did we get so damn serious?”
And perhaps that is what makes The Lighthouse With Strings work. This isn’t music that tries to drag you somewhere; it illuminates a particular landscape and allows you to decide what you see in it. There is melancholy here, but also warmth, humor, memory, and a sense of movement between seasons. The live recording gives the songs room to breathe, while the strings add emotional depth without overwhelming the intimacy at their center.
For me, this was a record best experienced slowly, preferably with a cup of tea and absolutely no requirement to contemplate the meaning of your own mortality before lunchtime. Sometimes a lighthouse doesn’t need to rescue you from the storm. Sometimes it is enough simply to show you where the rocks are.
And on this occasion, Tessa Rose Jackson leaves the light on.
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