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ALBUM OF THE DAY
23 FEBRUARY 2026
Bardo
CASSIE WATSON FRANCILLON
Released 11 February 2026
Cassandra Marie Watson Francillon
****-
A finely crafted contemporary jazz collection in which the harp is engaged as both rhythm engine and harmonic driver, in a meditation on the subject of transition.
Cassie Watson Francillon is part of a new generation repositioning the harp closer to the centre of contemporary jazz and improvisation. Trained in both classical and jazz idioms, she treats the instrument not as decorative colour but as a versatile, dynamic element at the centre of proceedings - capable of percussive attack, modal grounding and harmonic ambiguity. Her writing favours textural interplay, more focused on the ensemble than solo heroics. With Bardo, Francillon builds a project that is conceptually unified yet musically pragmatic — rooted in improvising language rather than spiritual abstraction.
In Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, “Bardo”denotes an intermediate state, a threshold between endings and beginnings. For many, the title will recall Laurie Anderson’s 2019 project Songs from the Bardo, a collection steeped in overt spirituality.
Francillon’s use of the term is more topical than devotional. The sense of “in-between” is embedded in the music itself: suspended harmonies, cyclical motifs that refuse tidy resolution, and ensemble passages that hover between pulse and drift.
The harp leads throughout, as Francillon exploits the instrument’s attack, dampening and resonance to generate propulsion and tension. Repeetitive phrases and rhythms (ostinati) anchor sections before dissolving into open improvisation; chord voicings are often modal and spacious, allowing horns and rhythm section to move fluidly around them. The writing favours gradation over climax — transitions matter more than arrival.
Importantly, the harp itself is having a moment.
Francillon’s work sits alongside innovators such as Brandee Younger and Joanna Newsom, as well as textural explorers like Mary Lattimore and Nala Sinephro, artists reclaiming the harp from orchestral cliché and placing it at the centre of forward-looking composition.
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