Mariee Sioux

Its always weird when a name from the past rears its head after so many years. Has it really been since 2007 that we'd thought of Mariee Sioux's entrancing voice? Well maybe not quite that long, since then she's popped up with luminaries like Brightblack Morning Light and Bonnie "Prince" Billy and each time it reminds us of how evocative and gorgeous her voice is and how much its missing from our life. Faces in the Rocks, her debut, was produced by Sioux's father and held much of her Native American heritage in its composition; from the haunted flutes to the subtle thump of ingrained percussion. In the interim, Sioux has grown as a songwriter, garnishing her latest, Gift for the End, with psychedelic flourishes and dewy folk guitar, but always keeping the focus rooted in her honeyed voice. The album wanders into a timeless folk tradition that feels like it could easily have been written anytime from 1899 to last week. Sioux's songwriting has a way of feeling like childhood secrets, precious and fantastical but rooted in the dark mythologies of childhood imaginations. The instruments move like clouds overhead at once friendly and bright and a yet a bittersweet reminder of the movement of time. Overall the album wears away some of the traditionalist elements that once hallmarked her sound and makes for the most delicately beautiful collection of songs that Sioux has been involved in to date. There are a few other folk albums making the rounds of critical praise recently but if you've been letting Sharon Van Etten and Fleet Foxes dominate your playlists, you may just have found a new obsession.

Listen:


Support the artist. Buy it: HERE (US) or HERE (UK). More info HERE