Jo Schornikow at Woodland Presbyterian Church, 4/25/2025
Jo Schornikow might be known for the atmospheric indie folk she makes as the keyboardist in Phosphorescent, but her 2025 solo EP Quiet Excerpts is more like the dreamy drone of Stars of the Lid or Anna von Hausswolff, crossed with Cat Power. Recorded on the pipe organ at Nashville’s Woodland Presbyterian Church, where Schornikow is music director (and with some overdubs tracked in Schornikow’s native Melbourne, Australia), it’s a strange and comforting record, with unexpected turns that feel like stumbling upon treasures. On “Upstream,” for instance, an image of walking on water is channeled over twee piano and the slant rhyme “steppin’ lightly on fishes and physics.”
