Serafina Steer

Key tracks:

Uncomfortable
Gsoh
Shut Up Shop
Margoton

Label: Static Caravan

Description:

Contemporary story telling and eclectic instrumentation. Lovely.

London-based harpist/singer Serafina Steer is getting used to comparisons with Joanna Newsom. Although Steer’s song writing owes more to the quirky austerity of post-punk mavens The Raincoats than it does to winsome folk.

With a first-class music degree from Trinity College, Steer keeps a toe in the legit classical realm but is otherwise busy dragging her unwieldy instrument around the sticky-floored UK gig circuit. Her debut album, ‘Cheap Demo Bad Science’ was co-produced by Mike Lindsay (Tunng), and weds subtle electronics to Steer’s harp, keyboards, deadpan vocals and unflinching lyrics, which blur cartoonish fantasy with kitchen-sink reality. She also makes room for that rarest of things, a Brian Eno cover, the exquisitely pastoral “By This River”.

Steer’s second album, ‘Change Is Good Change Is Good’ is a definite step up. Co-produced by Capitol K and Benge and with a number of guest appearances including Mercury nominee’s Seb Rochford and Emma Smith, the record has a much larger, full-band feel to it. Steer traces finely drawn characters and stories; a mini kitchen sink drama, a ghoulish highwayman or a girl falling down a well. The outcome of this story telling and eclectic instrumentation is a record that paints a perfectly clear picture whilst remaining musically very interesting and contemporary.

Serafina has also appeared both live and on record with other musicians including Tunng, Capitol K, Patrick Wolf, Chromehoof, Anthony and the Johnsons, Polar Bear and many more.