Holland-based artist Jonny Nash returns to Melody As Truth with his new solo album Once Was Ours Forever! Based on 2023's Point Of Entry, this collection of eleven songs is a unique, immersive, and slowly expanding world that further draws you in, freely connecting the chasms of folk, ambient jazz, and dream-pop.

While "Point Of Entry" featured a relaxed daytime atmosphere, "Once Was Ours Forever" unfolds like a slowly shifting sunset, enveloped by the twilight and hazy light of dusk. Gentle fingerpicking guitars, textured brush strokes, floating melodies, and reverberating vocals overlap, weaving together fleeting, ephemeral moments.

From the cosmic Americana of "Bright Belief" to the rich, layered shoegaze textures of "The Way Things Looked," Nash's varied guitar work forms the core of the album, with various collaborators adding their own Nash's versatile guitar work forms the core of the album, with various collaborators adding their own unique touches. Canadian ambient jazz saxophonist Joseph Shabason makes a return appearance on the album, lending his delicate tones to "Angel. Dusk Can Dance" features Shoei Ikeda of maya ongaku on saxophone, and "Holy Moment" features Tomo Katsurada, formerly of Geometric Patterns, on cello. And Tokyo-based acid folk artist Satomimagae (RVNG Intl.) provides deeply resonant, layered vocals on "Rain Song.

As with much of his work, "Once Was Ours Forever" deftly captures the perfect balance of softness and weight, allowing ample room for each listener to interpret and deeply appreciate the music. His extraordinary sense of blending the rural with the profound, the pastoral with the insightful, Once Was Ours Forever is delivered as a gentle, understated work, full of warmth and compassion.