Album Review: Mariee Siou Brings Her Psych-Folk Vibes To A New EP, Calling All Earthlings To Tend To Our Mother on CIRCLE OF SIGNS

Heigh Ho, dear lovely rainbow tribe, welcome back to Bobby's CD sandbox where we offer our broken-down breakdowns of new music releases. So, strap in and get ready, as Bobby goes on the record ABOUT the record.

This week's album entry in the BobbyFiles comes from the self-described Psych-Folk singer Mariee Siou, who, in recent years, has grown increasingly alarmed by the state we're in. As such, the music that has sprung from her soul, of late, has been folded into a 4 cut EP entitled CIRCLE OF SIGNS, a title intimating not only the signs of our times but the signs we are receiving (if we have the wisdom to look) that we are on a perilous path as a culture, as people, and as inhabitants of an increasingly out of balance planet. With her title track, CIRCLE OF SIGNS - cut 2 on the EP - we hear Siou's sweet, gentle voice in an almost childlike soprano. Lyrics speak to us saying, "A Sea Of Roses Calls Our Blood" painting a blood-red image of our relationship to our once-beautiful planet. The repetition of rhythmic motifs, first one and then another, gives life to the lyrical lines pushing them unrelentingly forward. "Forgive us for each chance we refused to learn," she says, as the toxicity of Earth, Air & Sea rises, and "we will pay for what we've done." Listen and see for yourselves - This is the official music video for 'Circle of Signs' by Mariee Siou. The film was directed by the visionary multi-disciplinary artist Samantha Shay and created with a talented group of collaborators and artists brought together by Samantha in Iceland.

Track 1, EVIL CRAWLS THE LINE, is not as ominous as the title would imply. Her Pop-Folk sound fuses with something else... something unidentifiable in her voice that harkens back to where or when, we cannot say. Her poetry is talking about us AND the planet, filled with water and earth imagery juxtaposed across humanity - our thoughts and our hearts. This song begs the question What is divine? Is it us? Is it Mother Earth? There is great humanity here in voice, words, and instruments. VÉGRE VISSZA is the final, and for Bobby's money, most beautiful thread in this EP tapestry. Here, her voice is an ancient one calling from the past. The wounds of modernity run deep, and the damage is done. Her lyrics beg us to dream of better times as a "knife is driven into the future," as we are "setting fire to the lungs of our children," - an allusion to the terrible practice of clearing the rainforests (the lungs of our planet) with deliberate arson, a sign that the anger of our times and the hatred between us is as toxic as our environment is becoming. Mankind and time are our enemies and we must return to Mother and return to each other. This song is truly beautiful, even though the instruments obscure the words she sings at times.

Here is where we must bring some raindrops with our rainbow review and add a drop of critic to this critique. For her third cut, SNAKE HOOP, the issue of instruments overbalancing Siou's voice is a bigger problem than for Cut 4. Despite her own beautiful guitar playing and the unmistakeable sounds of wind in the music created by a soprano saxophone and various wind instruments played by Patrick McGee, this wind-scape of horns and flutes interlaced with percussion moves in front of Mariee's voice and causes many of her lyrical lines to simply not penetrate. The harmonies she sings with herself are tightly woven together but, in truth, her words are obscured and unclear. The Snake Hoop is important, but, sadly, we can't tell you why.

CIRCLE OF SIGNS was created as an urgent call for healing, as well as to provide healing within its sounds, and, in this mission, Mariee Siou succeeds admirably. Her voice soothes and uplifts, all at the same time. For those looking for sounds of the new age that bring positive energy to thoughts, prayers, meditations, tea at your window, or to a circle gathered to focus curative intentions in a time of acute disorder, this music is more than welcome and, so, we do feel that only good can come from listening and give CIRCLE OF SIGNS...

3 ½ Out Of 5 Rainbows - Put this one in your collection/stream today, and feel better about yourselves.

Put This EP In Your Spotifies: HERE

You Can Pick Up CIRCLE OF SIGNS For Your Very Own On The Fan Link: HERE

You Can See And Hear Everything About Mariee Siou (including upcoming concert dates) On Her Webbysite: HERE

Cover artwork by Rachelle Bussières

Photography By Nicolas Stokes & Justin Nunnink

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