Words and music paint moving pictures for me daily. It is simultaneously my shelter and my escape. And voices, visceral, ethereal, can move mountains and expose my weaknesses to an artist just as much as an artist can expose her vulnerability to their audience. Oh, why did I have to wait so long to discover such beautiful sincerity?
Sally Crosby is from Wales and has been pursuing music since the age of five through the explorations of numerous instruments. She has a lilt in her voice that is instantly magnetic in combination with the turns of words and phrases she has been exploring since she began making independent albums on her own a few years ago. While we are going to be exploring her first album, released in 2014, and two other tracks, she has released several tracks since, along with at least one EP for you to explore.
Bucket of Leaves is brief, and such adventures always leave me pining for more musical adventures with a voice that wants to fly beyond the limits of the medium. The album begins with “Can’t Raise the Masts,” where she explores the inability to control the future and our destinies from day to day much better than I could attempt to explore poetically here. The Crosby lilt is in full force here, making the journey worth the time and the walk in the woods or the sail over the waves.
The melodies are simple, but such simplicity pulls at ones heart-strings rather effectively drawing you in with an almost bedroom quality. While I get the impression that Crosby wants to soar beyond the confines of the limited world, we are all chained to for the moment, in “Comet,” she restrains, she pulls, she attempts to soar, and then she surprises herself, and us, by rising into the atmosphere to burn bright when she probably least expects it.
“Insane” from her EP, All I Seem to Know How to Do Is Write Songs About You, is a delight to hear, with the possible accompaniment of a plucked ukulele, which always makes me happy. The track and the EP are from 2017 and show some growth, and maturity in her voice and her quiet intensity. The single, “Beautiful” dates from just three years ago, in 2020. Here she has added herself on some light background vocals and a brief violin solo that bring a simple accent to the lyrics that are an already powerful affirmation.
Listen on repeat and the discoveries may surprise you. Crosby strikes me as someone we should watch, not least because she probably has more music bursting out, and we’ll probably hear of it soon. To find more music and more about Crosby, please visit her website, here.
RadioMike, 30 January 2023