Scottish singer-songwriter Rachel Sermanni is today sharing ‘What Can I Do,’ the lead-single from her forthcoming third full-length, So It Turns - due to be self-released on August 23rd, Rachel opting for the DIY route this time around following previous releases for Rough Trade Records

and Middle of Nowhere Recordings. The ten-track album is Rachel’s most ambitious yet,

her self-confessed ‘folk noir’ taken to alluring and often-unexpected new heights.

 

In support of the release, Rachel will set out on a tour of the UK which will include a stop at London’s St Pancras Church on the 10th October. 

 

The first cut of the new record, ‘What Can I Do’, deals in a shadowy, gothic-tinged call-to-arms that falls somewhere between PJ Harvey and Cat Power; Rachel’s bittersweet mandolin is matched with moody atmospherics and the drive of distorted heavy-blues guitars and primal percussion.

 

Rachel says of the song's origins:

 

“I was lying on the floor just after Trump had been voted president, staring despairingly at the ceiling. There was also much on the news about refugees and the lack of an embrace we offer them. There was the looming Brexit vote too. In that moment I felt drawn to my mandolin to write, in a short sitting, What Can I Do. Though it was three years ago, this song is fitting to the motions of now and perhaps more useful and relevant than before.”

 

In keeping with the song’s desire for action, Rachel will donate a % of proceeds from the single to Extinction Rebellion Scotland in support of their work.

 

Where Rachel’s last album saw her incorporate darker, grungier elements into her sound,

So It Turns sees the Carrbridge-based artist go for something far more composed and

polished, but not at the expense of those rockier moments - as ‘What Can I Do’

foreshadows. Instead, she tunes her craft to a more eclectic and left-field range

of reference points.

 

Thanks to the album’s live recording process, the artful production of Axel Reinemer at Berlin’s Jazzanova Studios and the mercurial, genre-shifting instrumentation of her band, the record

leaves you uncovering new layers of sonic subtleties with each and every listen. In terms of

the subject matter, Rachel weaves stories about everything from her time spent at a

Buddhist monastery at the borders of Scotland, to the anticipation and woes of

long-distance relationships and the hopelessness, and/or desire for action,

that Trump, Brexit and the refugee crisis have inspired over several years.

 

So It Turns is an album that takes you on a captivating and often-unpredictable journey through a spellbinding array of sounds, emotions and experiences - there’s plenty of the gorgeous, dreamy folk that we’ve come to know and love from Rachel, but there are also heavier, gothy moments exemplified on ‘What Can I Do’, as well as unexpected detours into joyous, sassy indie-rock

and sporadic, jazz-influenced curveballs.

 

This is Rachel Sermanni at her best, a game-changing landmark release from one of the most promising names in contemporary folk.

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LIVE DATES

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10th August - Album Launch - Edinburgh, Summerhall

11th Sep - Aberdeen, The Blue Lamp

12th Sep - Inverness, Eden Court

13th Sep - Stirling, The Tollbooth

19th - 22nd Sep - Shetland (Songwriting Festival)

27th Sep - Galway, The Black Gate

28th Sep - Dublin, Lost Lane

2nd Oct - Album Launch - Glasgow, St Andrews in the Square

10th Oct - London, St Pancras Church

11th Oct - Husthwaite Village Hall

12th Oct - Bury, The Met

13th Oct - Kingskerswell Parish Church

19th Oct - Durham, The Old Launderette

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B I Z Z A R R E

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