Saputospace

Quick Review on Rachel Sermanni – Black Currents EP (2012)

Like Laura Marling, nineteen-year-old Scottish neo-folk songwriter Sermanni has won praise for her exceptionally mature and artful music, taking acoustic melodies and expanding them into cinematic pieces of uncommon depth…new four-track EP was produced by Ian Grimble (Travis, Daughter) and is being promoted via the excellent Communion family of artists co-managed by Mumford and Sons Ben Lovett

Sounds like: Sermanni finds that sweet spot between refreshingly unadorned directness and artful ornamentation, quiet laments and soaring orchestration all centered around a darting sand-textured voice that moves from tumbling lyricism to moments of serene, sweeping grandeur…

Quote: “Dreams are a good reflection of what songs are. It’s quite a nice way to think about it. When I have a good dream, things are sorted out in my head and when I have a good song things are sorted out in my head. And everyone has their different interpretations of dreams and it’s the same with songs.”

What we like: songs like the marvelous “Breathe Easy” deceptively drift from languid chamber-folk to something grander — by the time the final notes fade it suddenly dawns that despite the understated simplicity this is something special indeed…”Song For A Fox”, our first introduction to Sermanni last year, ingratiates with a vocal so soft and rich you can practically feel her breath on your ear…The minor chord minimalism and haunting strings of “The Fog” bring the song’s dark underpinnings slowly to the surface…