Seasons Of My Soul

One of the year’s most promising debuts

Thirty-one year old Sarah Joyce started to search for herself in music at least a decade ago. She would perform as a solo artist under various monikers in England and as part of the indie band La Honda as Sarah Prentice. That is why Joyce has had enough time to write some really worthy songs in which she expressed her thoughts, analyzed events and just noted everything that happened around. Of course life has supplied her with food for thought: changing place of residence (she was born in Pakistan, then her family moved to Great Britain), her parents’ divorce, her mother’s illness and death, a failed relationship with La Honda drummer. It was not long ago that Burt Bacharach heard about Sarah and paid for her flight to California so that he could hear this excellent voice. The event has probably given more confidence to the singer and this autumn, choosing the name Rumer taken from English writer Rumer Godden, she finally releases her debut album Seasons Of My Soul which proves to be one of the year’s most promising debuts.

Seasons Of My Soul: Rumer’s different moods

The singer explains the title Seasons Of My Soul with the fact that its songs correspond to different moods that follow each other like seasons of the year and then come back. The album opens with Am I Forgiven?, a spring-like warm, lively asking for forgiveness and love full of hope, and Come To Me High is rather a winter composition, very measured, slow and seemingly sleeping, refined with melodious tubes and soft backing vocals. The first single Slow has already become the favorite composition of a million of listeners in Europe who heard it on the radio, and this is definitely one of the strongest tracks on the record. It probably does not demonstrate all the power of Rumer’s vocals but the song’s very atmosphere does not require it for it tells about a fragile newly born feeling. The melody on Take Me As I Am is once again blooming with all the spring colors or even those of summer and conquers with some folk elements in the arrangement, whereas the second single Aretha is a very beautiful and melodious autumn number devoted to the renowned singer and filled with some youth reminiscences. Another warm composition Saving Grace is remarkable for quite a fast tempo compared to the rest of material and makes you swing your head to the music. The piano tune Thankful is painting a spring picture, very quiet and peaceful, and the longest number on the album On My Way Home (four minutes and a half) is filled with personal confessions and allows one to enjoy the marvelous vocals in full. The final track Goodbye Girl is refined with a harmonica and is associated with a warm autumn day, a bit sad but full of impressions.

The flow of the tiniest shades of feelings

In order to understand Rumer’s music one should not expect any stereotypes and templates from the very beginning for the entire record Seasons Of My Soul is the flow of the tiniest shades of feelings which cannot be placed within the frames of familiar structures. At the same time the album can boast flawless orchestra arrangements underlying the voice’s beauty and adding fineness to the songs. As for the vocals the critics compare it to the voice of Karen Carpenter of The Carpenters, though this comparison is by no means sufficient to cover all the virtues of Rumer’s principal instrument. The singer grew up listening to the music of Burt Bacharach, Joni Mitchell and gets inspiration from pieces written in 1930-1940s on the whole. That is exactly why one has in mind such words as ‘vintage’, ‘retro’ and ‘classic’ while listening to the wonderful album Seasons Of My Soul. At the same time this is very stylish contemporary music. The record’s only shortcoming is probably is monotonousness – quite a talented vocalist, Sarah Joyce definitely can do much more but some songs will certainly become real hits.