CD/DL/LP/CS – 12 tracks
Touch TO:132
Releases 4th September 2026
Available now to pre-order on Bandcamp
Track listing:
1. A Trick of the Light 02:49
2. Love Eternal 02:22
3. Slow Dance at the End of Time 04:10
4. Baroque Blues 04:09
5. Moscas 06:10
6. LouLou’s Theme 04:41
7. Fire Eat Wood 04:24
8. Slipping Tones 03:57
9. Queen of Winds 04:50
10. Sun Dream 03:21
11. As Low as Possible 04:45
12. Almost Starlight 03:19
14th August 2026 Kingston, Lewes – www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/almost-starlight-kingston-tickets-1993128037614
15th August 2026 Felpham, Bognor Regis – www.eventbrite.com/e/almost-starlight-tickets-1991831073359
4th September 2026 7PM Bandcamp Listening Party – touch333.bandcamp.com/live/almost-starlight-listening-party
Almost Starlight is the extraordinary new album by Jem Finer (hurdy-gurdy) and John Matthias (violin). Produced by Jay Auborn and recorded in a Medieval Church, deep in the Devon countryside, in the Summer of 2025, the music is suffused with light, heat and the natural acoustics of the space.
The album defies categorisation; forced to pigeonhole it the nearest approximation would be ‘modern-classical’ but this ignores its myriad influences and explorations which encompass inspiration from Arvo Pärt through Terry Riley to Can via Delius, Alice Coltrane and a subtle reimagining of electronic music played purely with acoustic instruments, bending and shaping their possibilities in surprising and unexpected directions.
Jay Auborn plays cello on a number of the compositions and his production opens up and expands the music through a skilled and imaginative use of space, paying homage to the atmosphere of the church; ‘the sound evolved… chasing the imagined acoustics of that church in my mind; a place for worshipping light with sound.’
Mastered by James Trevascus
Artwork & Photography by Jon Wozencroft
Additional photography by Ruby Matthias