Singer-songwriter. I’ll be honest, it’s not my favourite term. It immediately brings to mind a white man set on an uncomfortable chair with a brown guitar signing in a high voice. And yet, the great titans of the story-telling field – Tom Waits; Leonard Cohen; Bob Dylan; Nick Cave et all, are anything but beige. They are, however, white blokes. An alternative would be nice.
As you asked nicely, here’s an alternative who genuinely is exciting and worthy of your time. Julia Mascetti is a harpist. Are harps the new weapon of the musical bard and bardess? They’re an impressive beast for sure, always appearing as if the player is attempting to tame it like Hercules grappling with the Nemean lion. Julia even has a collection of harps, depending on the theatre of tuneful war on which she is operating. Small purple harp? Perfect for appearing on stage with metal bands. No, really.
In Bloom, the lead track from a forthcoming EP, is the product not only of Julia’s imagination but also her environment. Having moved from the UK to Tokyo, she has become a fervent blogger and object of quite some attention in her newly adopted home. Her Japanese audiences have taken her particularly sweet (and disarming) English vocals and her golden spider webs of plucked strings very much to their hearts, language not proving to be a barrier in her dark fairytales. Indeed, for the listening public in the UK, it’s the strangeness of the Japanese culture and use of local instrumentation, not to mention the aching longing of distance and loneliness, which subtly creeps into your brain and takes up residence. Sparce, yet densely packed, Julia’s music is a Godsend, a ray of light which takes an age-old musical form and adds utterly unique components and takes them to genuinely new places. You can keep your singer songwriters: we’re keeping this one.
Links:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/juliamascetti
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juliamascetti
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JuliaMascetti
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliamascetti
Website: https://tokyoharp.blog