‘A Reckoning Bell’ is the fourth album from The Magic Lantern, the musical moniker of singer-songwriter and composer Jamie Doe, an artist blurring the boundaries between folk, jazz and contemporary classical music. Born in Australia before moving to the UK at 12, his songs examine the limitless depth of human experience with devastating, joyous results. 

Written and recorded while helping to care for his father with Alzheimers disease, ‘A Reckoning Bell’ examines what loss can teach us about love and how love’s many small acts give a life meaning. The result is a study in masculine vulnerability that sits with and acknowledges the inevitability of a loss witnessed in slow motion and the unexpected moments of joy that sustain us. 

Working with producer Chris Hyson (Jordan Rakei, Alison Sudol) ‘A Reckoning Bell’ manages to sound both dreamy and direct. Musically, it revels in building tension and delaying its cathartic release. This approach supports the raw emotion and lyrical directness for which The Magic Lantern is known and of which this album is his greatest achievement to date. 

'A Reckoning Bell' is out now.

The Magic Lantern - A Reckoning Bell

repeating days

Mitski - Why Didn't You Stop Me

Bound for Glory by The Magic Lantern. Released 4 June 2021. The first single to be released from the fourth album 'A Reckoning Bell' by the London based singer-songwriter Jamie Doe.

Bound for Glory

The Magic Lantern - Bound For Glory

02 The Magic Lantern - This Life

Blades of Grass is a joyful song for a desperate time that celebrates our unavoidable human fragility and wild need for companionship. It is the second single to be taken from my fourth album 'A Reckoning Bell'. It examines the beauty and freedom that come from the emotional honesty of life’s toughest moments. 

Lyrically ‘Blades of Grass’ is presented as a set of statements each starting with the repetition of the phrase ‘Let it be known’, which like fragments of a jigsaw imply the outline of hard truths learnt. The simple formality of the structure belying the weight it carries. 

I hope it can be useful for you. 

All love

Jamie x

The Magic Lantern - Blades Of Grass

04 The Magic Lantern - Fault Line

05 The Magic Lantern - How Simple

06 The Magic Lantern - Enough

haley heynderickx - the bug collector slowed & reverbed

lucy dacus - triple dog dare (live)

Live at Pryzm Kingston 

Emily I'm Sorry Live at Pryzm Kingston Boygenius

Live at The Queen's Hall Edinburgh

When Memories Snow Mitski Live at the Queen's Hall 07/10/23

I’ve been thinking about music and its place in the world. I’ve been thinking about artistic space and our willingness to occupy it. And I’ve been thinking, again, about success, what it means and to whom I ask for validation of it. These aren’t new thoughts exactly, but they are thoughts I have taken greater root this new year.

It feels important to say out loud that I am not competing with or against any other musician for your attention. I refuse to submerge my artistic practice in the barren, cold waters of marketing speak. Branding is for cows. And while of course I want to grow my audience, to reach further and farther, to travel and make new connections through my songs, what is meaningful to me is the depth more than the breadth. 

Experience and practice, the love of those this music has reached, the support of other musicians, have gifted me a perspective that brooks less doubt about the value of what I do these days. This is a kind of success. Thank you to everyone who nourishes me. 

My work for this year, hand in hand with the exciting and messy business of releasing a new album, is to more deeply embrace gratitude and practice some radical acceptance; to take a look around and realise this may be as good as it gets, and know that it is enough. The work continues. 

My new album 'To Everything a Season' is out on 11 October. 

Big love

The Magic Lantern / Jamie x 

"Excellent, intriguing and compelling, a man to watch"
-The Guardian

"Something very, very special"
- Lauren Laverne, BBC 6 Music

"Gorgeous, beautiful, this stopped me in my tracks. Slightly surreal, in all the right ways" - Jamie Cullum, BBC Radio 2

"Every now and again you come across a piece of music that will completely take your breath away. It might not be instant, but it will. The Magic Lantern’s ‘Holding Hands’ is one of those pieces of music. 8/10"
- Fortitude Magazine

"Creating something truly mesmerizing and incredibly unique. Jamie’s ability to combine jazz and folk into something ethereal and is undeniably spellbinding. Fans of Grizzly Bear and Chet Baker will feel at home here."
- The Vinyl District



www.the-magic-lantern.co.uk
Contact: jamiefdoe@yahoo.com