It’s been a while since we featured Brighton-based Sairie featuring Emma Morton, Andy Thomas and Jon Griffin. They are among the bands we are presenting at the Sidmouth Folk Festival this year as part of the Cellarful of Folkadelia afternoon sessions that Folk Radio UK are co-curating. These sessions were always a Sidmouth highlight for me when they were co-curated by Ian Anderson and fRoots magazine, so it’s an honour to continue on these sessions.
On 23rd September, Sairie are releasing an EP of film music titled The Cinder Sheet. Watch their new video for Pearl’s Song, originally from the film The Night of the Hunter (1955) and composed by Davis Grubb and Walter Schumann. It will be available on streaming services and for download on iTunes and Amazon.
Emma shared some background on it:
We were about to start work on our first album when the pandemic struck, and suddenly, we weren’t allowed to meet, let alone play music together. To cheer ourselves up and help us get through that miserable time, we started talking about doing our own versions of songs from movies or composers that we both loved, and we started playing around with that by file sharing and emailing and before we knew it this fun little project gained a life of its own and blossomed into The Cinder Sheet.
Our first single from the E.P. is Pearl’s Song from The Night Of The Hunter. This is sung in the movie by Pearl (although not by the actress), one of the two children pursued by Robert Mitchum’s demonic murderer as they flee through the night in a row-boat on the river. It’s such a short little song that we combined it with the traditional lullaby that appears slightly later as the two children are bedded down for the night in a barn. The Night Of The Hunter is the only film that Charles Laughton ever directed. It’s such a wonderful movie, so lyrical and beautiful, a masterpiece, really. When Jon first saw Lutine play, he instantly imagined Emma singing this song, so in a way, it was the inspiration for the whole project.
As said before on these pages, Emma’s controlled vibrato is a distinguishing feature of the Sairie sound, and the minimalist arrangements are so perfectly in tune with her ethereal voice. The arrangements are weighted mid-way by Andy’s bass before being lifted by some incredible backing vocals from Jon. It’s a masterpiece.
Such a pleasure to share this song, and we’re really looking forward to seeing them at Sidmouth.
Available on streaming services and for download on iTunes and Amazon.