Rachel Sermanni – So It Turns
The Scottish artist returns with her first album in four years, offering a direct reflection on the politics of modern times
Rachel Sermanni’s work has always thrived on oppositions – the light of her music against the darkness of what can sometimes inspire it, or the beauty of her melodies against the ugliness of the feelings they sometimes evoke. So It Turns presents the Scottish artist grappling once more with these oppositions, but using it to mill a finer, richer blend than before.
Her first album in four years, So It Turns found the Highland talent decamping to Berlin, no less, working alongside producer Axel Reinemer. It’s an album full of breathy silences, its sparse palette allowing each subtle hue and colour to state itself with renewed eloquence.
Hushed album opener Put Me In the River is an astonishing piece of folk-noir, it’s meditative sensibility both calming and somehow unnerving. See You is this patiently etched depiction of a long-distance love affair: its restrained yet determined punch fuelled by an opaque rendering of solitary Americana.
Diving into the personal, So It Turns is by no means an introspective experience. Sermanni’s views have been increasingly shaped by political and societal challenges, with a portion of the proceeds from this new album set to be donated to Extinction Rebellion Scotland. This directness extends to the music, too, with the excellent Typical Homegirl boasting a rock crunch, or the jazz-leanings on a freewheeling moment of inspiration Tiger. An album to savour, from an artist whose nuanced, often challenging work reflects these tortured times.
Listen to: Put Me in the River, Tiger