Dorie Jackson is the daughter of erstwhile Van Der Graaf Generator alumni, David Jackson, a musical genius now plying his considerable talents with Kaprekar’s Constant, a superb collective, where, of course, Dorie sings. 

Now that is the final time, I am going to reference this, because Dorie is releasing Stupid Says Run on 17th January, and it and she deserve to be praised for an incredible piece of work on their own merits and talent instead of referring to others, no matter how legendary within our musical world. I was entranced by this album from the instant I heard it last year, and that admiration has only grown since.  

Before discussing the album in detail, I would also like to note and send my condolences to Dorie on the loss of her representative and friend, Stevie Horton. 

You can view and purchase Dorie’s music alongside label mates at Talking Elephant Records https://talkingelephantrecords.bandcamp.com/ and the album itself can be pre-ordered at https://www.talkingelephant.co.uk/product/stupid-says-run/  

The artist has surrounded herself with Kaprekar’s colleagues Nick Jefferson on bass, guitars, and keyboards; Mike Westergaard on piano, keyboards, guitar and backing vocals; Al Nicholson guitars, piano, keyboards, and mandolin; aforementioned David Jackson saxophones, flutes, G# Bell and whistles; Mark Walker drums and percussion. In addition, the very talented Toby Shaer plays violin and whistles.  

So, twelve tracks for us to swoon over. 

Opener is Sun Horse, a tale of the Uffington White Horse leaving its hillside home every 100 years and travelling to a nearby smithy to have new shoes fitted. The White Horse is thought by some to be a sun horse, tasked with guiding the sun through its daily travels across the sky. 

The song starts with the sound of the smithy carrying out his work, and when Dorie starts singing, you are transported away from the travails of this daily existence, a voice enchanting, ethereal, telling a story with aplomb. The harmonies with herself are multi-layered and extremely well mixed, and Toby Shaer provides for a class violin, alongside a knowing musical folk collective with a nice bassline, and Westergaard giving a gentle jazz-infused piano. This song is an extremely positive start to proceedings. 

The Daylight Gate has been released as a single, and there is a video embedded below for you. “Stupid says run, smart says wait for the daylight gate”, a tale of insomnia. The melody is delightful, the harmonies again excellent, the forceful “run” stating perfectly the horror some sufferers go through in the middle of the night, craving sleep, with a lovely soundscape being created by the synths and the piano over the insistent acoustic guitar. Superb and deserving of wide airplay in our culturally bereft mainstream. 

Wild Thyme was the first single released, and this love song charting the four seasons and the passing of the years together also has a video embedded below for you to enjoy. This is surely inspired by an English roots poem or song, Jackson’s voice taking on a beautiful deep timbre, Shaer again providing thoughtful violin and a lush whistle. This is a definite early contender for this website’s “track of the year” award. Stunning, especially as the symphonic turn arrives in the final minute, filling the room with sound.

Red Sky is a wonderful tribute by a shepherd to those who are satisfied with the simple (important) things in life, contented with their lot in life and I wholeheartedly agree and raise a glass to Ms Jackson – love, togetherness, beer, good food – I am a happy and lucky chap, and these are all I need. The mandolin features prominently, and Nicholson is an adept player, this is a joyful track. 

Remember Majuba references the Battle of Majuba Hill, a battle in the First Boer War which led to a decisive victory for the Boers, and how Nick Jefferson’s great, great uncle won a Victoria Cross there. David plays whistles on this track, there is a lovely bass melody, and there is none better than Dorie with her descriptive and emotional voice transplanting you to that turmoil. As nice a collective folk rock performance as I have heard, the duet between whistle and voice a delight with the remainder of the band providing a wall of acoustic sound as a backdrop. 

Rise Again is a posthumous recognition of singer Judee Sill, who was an American folk artist who tragically died aged 35 from drug abuse. I like the expressive piano, and David gives us flute and whistles on this track, the lyrics knowingly, and touchingly, referencing the troubled soul and the fact we cannot choose the person we are. Really quite lovely. 

The Photo tells us the tragic story of how it is inevitable that one day, a loved one is not recognised by someone with dementia, perhaps the best such story to music I have heard since Stu Nicholson & Galahad released the exceptional The Long Goodbye. The song is realised starkly, the lyrics portraying the pain of this terrible condition, the music behind it driving the words and vocal harmonies, with a very sad keyboard solo at the heart of it.  

The Visitor is interesting, the opening chords darker, especially the understated violin, a sense of mystery coming over a visit to a business, the visitor unidentified, and if that business has been dirty, then the proprietor had better hold their nerve, because it’s going to get tough. There is a reference to the Post Office Horizon scandal, with the Visitor rubbing his hands with glee at the scandalous goings on there, and the quicker portions have you picturing in your mind the eponymous shadowy figure pouncing on his deserving prey.

 Halfway to the Moon tells how, in the darkest hours of WWII, our government colluded with the British press to spread the fiction that we could counter a German invasion by setting light to the North Sea, proving, if nothing else, that the sheer incredulity of much of mankind is not a new social media phenomenon. It sounds much like a shanty, portraying very well the despair felt by the country after Dunkirk, but the lie spread to convince us that all was not lost. The Halfway to the Moon vocal itself comes crying out of the speaker in a glorious burst of vocal noise, a staggering vocal performance and one of those “if you don’t get any other track in 2025, get this one” songs, David’s contribution strong on the horns especially. 

Paper Chains speaks of a pilgrimage in Spain, perhaps escaping a failed relationship. It is a playful track, David again providing trademark sounds, a pulsing beat keeping it racing along, the protagonist running and running. 

The penultimate track is Skylark about a child’s love of nature. Light, the flutes and whistle especially putting across a sense of wonder and delight, this lovely song speaks of wonder denied to so many young people in the ghastly urban metropolis they are brought up in. I used to walk for miles with my son at that age up and down Carmarthenshire’s beautiful countryside and hills, the whistles providing for a distinctly Celtic feel. A pastoral delight which, in parts, does bring me to mind of some of Enya’s finest moments, and there were many. 

We close with The Hypnotist’s Watch, which tells of the final journey of Admiral Sir Cloudesly Shovell, a very important naval commander in the reigns of the restored monarchy and William of Orange, as well as being an MP. The final journey refers to the fact that he perished, alongside 1.400 other souls, in a shipwreck in the Isles of Scilly. This is by a long way the lengthiest track here, over nine minutes, a lament as a shanty, the violin and whistles again integral to the mood created, which is written from the viewpoint of witnesses to the terrible storm, the passage undone, some gorgeous harmonies, all underpinned by the collective guitars, piano, bass in what is a tremendously impressive musical performance, the intensity burning as strong as St Agnes as we move along, and as that passage ends, and you think it is over, the end of a pause brings a ghostly voice and the Jackson lament, stunning in its singularity.  

It is, of course, foolhardy to point to an album as being in top five/ten etc. lists at the end of the year when this review is being written in January, but this is an extremely special album, and certainly worthy of the descriptor “essential purchase”.