Sairie – The Trembling Earth
Independent – Out Now
I do like an album that iTunes designates as ‘unknown genre’. Invariably it can be fitted into a category of one’s wishes, but I much prefer to take it on its own merit. This is an admirable stance for a review but when I come to listen to music for pure self-indulgence, I tend to graduate to certain styles depending upon my mood, who else might be listening and so on. A bit of a preamble but this is important as Sairie have recently made their third release and their second EP, The Trembling Earth, and it is something that I would play and would play with other things.
The earlier EP, Scarlet and Blue which came out in March, brought the trio of Emma Morton, Andy Thomas and Jon Griffin to the wider public attention than their native Brighton. The five tracks on that are followed by three on this EP but does extend the work shown on its predecessor. It was also produced under the extraordinary circumstances this year has brought us all, and is for sale on a pay-what-you-can basis.
The opener is Silent o Moyle, sometimes referred to as The Song of Fionnula, and is a new arrangement for the words of the Irish writer, poet and lyricist Thomas Moore. The song is based on the legend of Fionnula who, along with her siblings, were transformed into swans and cursed to spend 900 years on the water. As with all legends, this end occurred a bit sooner than expected, the children returning to human form but dying and going to heaven. Apparently even Moore’s own notes said that it would really need a lot more verses to make true sense of the tale and I have not even begun to do it justice here.
However, here we have a beautiful song, lovingly rendered, Morton’s voice providing just the right amount of intensity to help the words along, at times double-tracked giving some depth to the phrasing. The melody has a mixture of brightness and pathos that reflects the subject, the doomed children becoming singing swans, all underpinned by a regular beat that subtly marches time on.
For the Morning is composed by the band and is sung a cappella over a drone, simple but very effective. Given that these tracks were recorded under what the band refer to as ‘the strange enforced separation’ there is probably more than a little investment in “Days are longer when you’re not there” the dark nights and the bare streets underlining the obligatory detachment we have all had to endure.
What For The Morning delivers in words, The Trembling Earth describes in its aural nature. Again there is use of the emphasised yet subtle beat, that takes you along the musical road, building apprehension, increasing uncertainty, a suitable musical allegory to our world of the past six months and of the years to come.
I feel though, that this is not just about Covid-19. The earth is trembling because of what is being done to it, and what we are doing to each other in many ways. Certainly, Sairie have produced this album over the lockdown period and are offering it for sale at whatever price you can afford to pay. 100% of the proceeds for downloads are being donated to blackmindsmatter.co.uk.
The combination of autoharp, acoustic guitar and bass creates a distinctive sound, and whilst iTunes may not be able to pigeonhole them, which is a good thing, they will sit well alongside Espers, The Eighteenth Day of May, and The Incredible String Band, none of which are very far from my player. This is a really enjoyable trio of tunes from Sairie and I look forward to hearing more of them and their music in the future.
Order via Bandcamp: https://sairie.bandcamp.com/album/the-trembling-earth