naturalismo

When I first heard Mariee Sioux’s debut album Faces in the Rocks, time seemed to stop. Her voice, fragile yet confident in its own understated elegance, wove a tapestry of images and sounds that brought me to an emotional and spiritual plane bereft of worldly obligation or anxiety. In other words, I felt beyond time, beyond self.  Never before had I heard an artist who, seemingly out of so few raw materials, was able to craft songs able to hold water even after nine minutes…or longer.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mariee for the first time at folkYEAH’s Big Sur celebration last weekend. As enchanting and graceful as the wind, grass, and streams she sings about so effortlessly in her songs, Mariee had a presence that I won’t soon forget. Her singing and fingerpicking was flawless, despite the chilly air sweeping betwixt the towering redwoods. Shafts of golden light split the branches, dust danced on the whim of breezes. As laid back and absorbed the aura of twilight, Mariee’s poems cradled my restless mind.

Daytrotter - god bless ‘em - was able to get some unreleased songs from Mariee, and hear the stories behind a couple of her tracks from Faces in the Rocks.

[download]

“Friendboats” (new version) - original on Faces in the Rocks

“Old Magic” (previously unreleased)

“Two Tongues” (new version) - original on Faces in the Rocks