Jenny Gillespie Mason announces In the Safety of the Light, releasing June 12, and unveils the single ‘Rungs of Love’—a shimmering meditation on love, devotion and everyday life.
Jenny Gillespie Mason is back with a record that feels quietly luminous—less a pop event than a return to the kind of songwriting that keeps its promises.. Her new album. In the Safety of the Light. lands June 12 via Native Cat Recordings. and the lead single “Rungs of Love” arrives like a soft lantern.
For listeners. the title track’s premise is the hook: “Rungs of Love” is inspired by Mason’s spiritual teacher. Mother Mirra Alfassa. and her descriptions of love as something that changes shape—moving from love that expects reward to love that gives without keeping score. and eventually toward a devotional love that serves only God.. Rather than treating that ladder of feeling as a lecture. Mason writes it into the song’s movement. where the verses and chorus hold two atmospheres at once: romance with its bright wins and inevitable bumps. and prayerful reflection on what love is meant to become.
The track’s emotional intelligence sits in its pacing.. You can hear the tension of wanting something tangible—an actual relationship with its everyday questions—while also reaching for a deeper relationship. the one she describes as meditating on her bond with God.. That dual focus gives “Rungs of Love” a layered readability: it speaks to anyone who has loved another person and then realized that love has an interior life. a moral dimension. a spiritual texture.
A return to acoustic intimacy
Produced by Noah Georgeson—whose work spans artists like Joanna Newsom. Devendra Banhart. Bert Jansch. and Vashti Bunyan—the album was recorded at a private studio in Los Angeles.. The production choice matters culturally. because it frames the album not as an arena for spectacle. but as a space for listening closely.. Mason says the record finds her returning to the acoustic folk approach she first began writing as a teenager. with “just me and a guitar” as the creative north.
There’s also a craft story underneath the romantic and spiritual one: Mason describes the project as something that had been building for years. and credits her collaboration with Georgeson for helping it “reach its fulfillment.” In an era when many artists chase velocity and trend cycles. that time-weathered feeling—songs taking years to form fully—reads as an alternative model of creative success.. It’s less about staying current and more about staying true.
Love as practice, not concept
Mason’s lyrics lean toward directness.. She frames much of the writing as pulled from her journals. with minimal adornment. aiming for communication that stays straightforward and accessible even as it carries a more spiritual leaning.. That simplicity can be a radical decision: spiritual songwriting often risks becoming poetic fog. but here the language is positioned to meet listeners where they already stand—inside relationships. roles. and responsibilities.
Her words about balancing life add another human layer.. She describes trying to live as an aspiring yogi while also trying to be a mother and wife “inside of a weird civilization.” The phrase lands because it refuses nostalgia.. The spiritual life. in Mason’s portrait. isn’t an escape from modernity; it’s something practiced while doing ordinary. demanding things—caregiving. partnership. the daily labor of attention.. In that sense, “Rungs of Love” works as a bridge between inner work and outer life.
That bridge matters culturally.. Across contemporary music. audiences are increasingly drawn to artists who treat devotion and identity as lived experiences rather than aesthetic backdrops.. Mason’s album slots into a broader shift toward intimate folk and conscience-led songwriting. where spirituality isn’t only a theme—it’s a method for interpreting the world.
What to listen for before release
In the Safety of the Light is a complete statement, not only a single’s sentiment.. The tracklist moves from titles that suggest motion and reflection—“Horizontal. ” “Medicine of Light. ” and “Wonder of the Circle”—toward songs that feel both mythic and personal. including “Perseus” and “The Bliss. ” and a closer. “Woman from Nottingham.” Even without hearing every note. the sequence hints at an arc: love discussed in stages. light as a medicine. the circle as a return. and the self as something named.
For fans of Mason’s earlier projects. including Sis and the Lower Wisdom. this release may read as both continuity and clarification: the spiritual impulse remains. but the acoustic framework and the journal-sourced clarity suggest a renewed focus on accessibility.. And for new listeners. the album’s cultural invitation is simple—bring your real relationships. your questions. your longing for what love can be. and listen for the rung that calls to you.
With In the Safety of the Light set for June 12. the question won’t just be whether “Rungs of Love” shimmers on the first listen.. It will be whether. after the last chorus fades. Mason’s central idea—love as something that grows in moral and spiritual direction—stays with you long enough to change how you think about your own life.