Sister Speak – The Stand

Sister Speak – The Stand

http://www.sisterspeakmusic.com/

Last night, I had the chance to listen to a truly transcendent, evocative piece of music that impacted both my night and my subsequent view of the day ahead of me. That piece of music was The Stand, the all new extended play by Sister Speak, a West Coast indie pop troupe centering on singer/songwriter Sherri Anne. In listening to its opening track “New York Sunrise,” I found my emotions tuning in to everything that Sherri Anne was expressing through such delicately woven lyrics. I realized that I wasn’t just listening to an exquisite pop song, I was listening to the dawn of a new era for the genre as a whole.

In this line of work, I have the great pleasure of listening to a lot of incredible music before it ever hits the record store or the radio. 2018 has been an exceptionally good year for music, and I can honestly say that I can’t recall the last time that I witnessed such a sudden influx of new talent rising to the surface at the same moment in history. And with all of that said, The Stand  is one of the most mature and accomplished EP’s that I’ve listened to this year.

The songwriting on display here is wise beyond its years, delving deep into a spectrum of emotions that would suggest that Sherri Anne is an old soul. The delivery of these songs is even more stunning and beautiful, and the clean production allows us to really appreciate every small nuance and accentuated tone buried within the rich textured content of what this EP has to offer. Nothing here stays on the surface level, and it doesn’t take much of a nudge to send us cascading down the rabbit hole, for better or worse (although in this situation, things only get better).

Considering the diverse background of the band and their stationing in both British Columbia and Los Angeles, it should come as no surprise to anyone how incredibly accessible The Stand is to fans of rock, pop, rhythm and blues, folk and even world music. There’s an international exoticism that acts as a bombastic flare to each one of the tracks, but it never becomes so overbearing that we start to feel smothered. Sister Speak are careful never to push the envelope too far over the line, but they aren’t afraid to get a little experimental when they have to, either.

This is one of the most exciting bands in indie rock right now,at least for me, and I would expect that their ascent to the top of the charts is fairly imminent considering the buzz surrounding

them.The underground loves them, and now the mainstream is having their first look at this infectiously charismatic group of musicians. I have a feeling that I won’t be the only person listening to this extended play on repeat over the summer and eagerly awaiting more output from Sherri Anne and her compatriots.

Michael Rand