Serafina Steer - Change is Good Change is Good

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4...according to our Business Lady on Thu 15 Apr, 2010.

Good news for all you Static Caravan buffs out there, we've got a newy in from Harp plucking Serafina Steer. Those of you familiar with S.S will know she has a mysterious and sensual vocal delivery as well as kick ass Harp playing skills. Often compared with Joanna Newsom, Steer's music is not quite as challenging or 'out there' but her soothing approach and straight forward songwriting style is certainly commendable. Assisted here by Capitol K and Benga whose production skills lift this record out of folk obscurity encouraging the use of analogue keyboards and drum machines to keep things fresh and inviting. On Occasions this sounds a little like Pinback or American Analogue Set at their most relaxed but elsewhere the music takes on a life of it's own, drifting on some mystical plane.

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“’Change is good, change is good’ is something I mutter to myself when everything is going wrong. But I like how the repetition reveals panic.” An exquisite call to arms from harpist Serafina. Co-produced by Capitol K and Benge with a number of guest appearances including Mercury nominee’s Seb Rochford (drums) and Emma Smith (violin), ‘change is good change is good’ is a filigree song scrapbook. Serafina traces finely drawn characters and stories; a mini kitchen sink drama, a ghoulish highwayman or a girl falling down a well. Born of difficulty but full of grace and beauty; a plaintive English voice finds a line of best fit through untimely obstacles. Half way through recording this album, after the initial band had disbanded, Serafina’s harp was stolen in the middle of the night, as the ‘Delia Derbyshire meets Arthur Russell’ style textures testify. Ethereal yet intimate songs like ‘How To Haunt a House Party’, ‘Shut Up Shop’, 'Ulular' and a setting of Raymond Carver’s ‘Drinking While Driving’ are constructed of analogue synths, drum machines and homemade lyres. Needs must as the devil and Serafina drove. Serafina has toured through the UK, Europe and Japan variously with or in Patrick Wolf, Chrome Hoof, Anthony and the Johnsons, David Grubbs, Tara Jane O´Neil, Polar Bear.

1. Shut up shop 2. Day Glo 3. GSOH 4. The Valley 5. Motion Pictures 6. 'Drinking While Driving' (after R.Carver poem) 7. How to haunt a house party 8. Margoton 9. Port Isaac 10. The Sisters of Proportion 11. Half Robot 12. Ulular

5...according to James Cox.

I am a big fan Serafina Steer. Her music is similar to Virginia Astley/Kate Bush, ethereal, while her lyrics are firmly rooted in terra firma and the mundane. The first song is about a boring party, for instance. Weird and wonderful.

So, what do you think? Best reviewer each month gets £10 off their next order!