Drawing Room Records – DRLP00036
Somesurprises is the moniker of Seattle singer/songwriter Natasha
El-Sergany. What once was a solo project focusing on spectral balladry
and late night exploration, somesurprises has since formed into a
dynamic live band. Motorik beats, reverb-drenched vocals, washes of
fingerpicked guitars, and hazy synths expand El-Sergany’s delicate and
blissful songwriting. Over the years, somesurprises has built a strong
presence in the Seattle music scene, and toured the west coast. In
Seattle, they have opened for touring artists such as Circuit Des Yeux,
Carla dal Forno, A Place to Bury Strangers, and the Cave Singers...
...With its 36th release, Drawing Room brings in a new wonder with
somesurprises’ self-titled debut LP, a treasure among pop treasures. The
album explores a range of styles, from gradually intensifying
meditative drones, to songs where the same moment never quite happens
twice. As in previous cassette releases with fewer members, El-Sergany
uses her ethereal voice as an instrument, no more or less central to the
music than a guitar hook or a drumbeat. But the vocals and lyrics are
more in focus than ever before. From shimmering cascades of reverbed
guitar chords, to driving bass and percussion guiding guitar and synth
freak-out outros, as a full band, somesurprises finds its fullest
expression yet. The songwriting here, laden with effects and orchestral
arrangements, reaches for more than navel-gazing, or (even shoegazing)
and seeks, perhaps, through knowledge of the self, to guide the way out
of one’s own mind.
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