The Lantern by Bernard John | Single Review
- Thexele Blog
- 6 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Folk | Music video | Reviews.
A Quiet Song with a Lot to Let Out
“The Lantern” by Bernard John feels deeply personal without trying too hard to prove it. The song is quiet, warm and surprisingly easy to sink into. Bernard doesn’t really perform the story at you. It feels more like he’s telling it to you.
The Providence indie-folk artist actually wrote the song years ago, before illness forced him to step away from recording. Now “The Lantern” arrives as the third single from Acres, his first full-length record in nearly 15 years. It’s difficult not to hear some of that long journey in the release.
I especially like the way the instruments move together. Guitar and other delicate string sounds weave in and out, sometimes creating little trills that give the arrangement an almost folk-tale quality. Bernard’s voice has a pleasant natural rasp to it, but he never pushes for a big vocal moment. No dramatic high notes, no long emotional runs. He simply tells the story, and that feels right for this song.
The music video is where the emotion finally breaks open. A man who seems exhausted with life leaves his everyday surroundings and heads into nature. Along the way he finds a dog, and they continue together until reaching a mountain top. Then he screams into the landscape. We can’t hear him, but somehow that makes the moment even stronger.
I love that contrast. The song itself stays gentle and relaxed while the video gives all those buried feelings somewhere to go.
Beautifully produced and genuinely heartfelt, “The Lantern” feels like a quiet release of something that has been carried for a long time.
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Review by Thexele
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