The forthcoming album from Nashville-based and Melbourne-bred songwriter Jo Schornikow is a clip show of sorts. The record’s title, ALTAR, takes its name from a physical—and more importantly: symbolic—shrine she keeps of souvenirs from past chapters of her life, with the highs and lows all revisited on the new LP. The latest single to be revealed ahead of its May 20 release date captures both of these extremes, with the equal-parts nostalgic and comfortably of-the-present “Plaster” summing up a particular recurring theme in her life.
“‘Plaster’ is a song about my favorite kind of magic—that done in plain sight, no smoke or mirrors,” she shares. “When the magician calls the play, shows their hand; and still the audience sees what they want/expect, not what’s there. I’ve been on both sides and wrote a verse from each; the fooler and the fooled. ‘Plaster’ is a glittering, disco-ball lit, slow-dance love song to all the fools I've been. Nothing to do with plaster, but both my wrists were broken when I wrote it. Never bike-ride in NYC snow.”
Along with the glossy tune comes a slo-mo music video which sees Schornikow making her way to the front of a sanctuary over the course of the song’s two minutes, where the colorful aforementioned altar awaits her. Check it out below, and pre-order ALTAR—out May 20 via Keeled Scales—here.
