REA - Crop Circles (Self Release) [Folk]
- The Slow Music Movement
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
*** This blog post first appeared in TSMM's July 7th Newsletter, where you can get all the tips (and more) first ***
The thing that gets me out of bed every day, often far too early, is the excitement of stumbling across new, especially young, talented and upcoming artists. Although I can’t give them much of a leg up -- one day I’ll have a hundred thousand engaged followers who can catapult artists to the next level, but I can at least give them a few new listeners or fans, some blogosphere encouragement, SEO advantage and something to show potential bookers.
Although a lot of the coverage is for great singles that signal promise and happens via the blog, I was very taken by this nature-inspired, sweet and soothing singer-songwriter Rachel Adderley aka REA. Styling her music as, “alt-folk music from quiet outdoor spaces and deeply rooted in the natural world”, she’s not faking the funk - recording this sophomore EP with her band sitting around a crackling campfire in a secluded woodland plot in a national park.
The band certainly do their bit not to disturb the surrounding flora and fauna - their acoustic instruments and softly spun tunes the perfect foil for Adderley’s own acoustic strumming and charming voice, the ambient noise from the setting hinting at her field recording hobby, and providing pleasing sonic depth to the gentle folk sounds.
If well-crafted, good-natured folk is your cup of tea then head over to Bandcamp - the only place you can hear this particular releases, and make you check last year’s, more widely available, debut whilst you’re at it. And if you want a peek behind the scenes, then check out her Substack.
Playlist Companion
Find Rea in the Slow Indie-Folk Playlist.