In a time when album art is unfortunately often reduced to a thumbnail, a larger vision of the cover of The Stand, Sister Speak’s stunning symphonic folk/alt pop-rock driven EP, is essential. It shows the band’s frontwoman, Canadian born, Southern California based singer/songwriter Sherri Anne, walking off in a blue hued landscape towards a quiet sunset with the desert floor cracking all around her.
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That symbolizes the fragility of life even as she takes the reins of hope and empowerment and as she declares on the intense anthemic title track, “With my hands I wake, with my ears I take/With my mind I make a stand.” Working with keyboardist/producer Avli Avliav, Sherri generally starts each song with a sparse arrangement and a gentle, fragile vocal. Then the electronic percussion, blazing guitars of Sarven Manguiat and soaring synth textures help her exchange humble grace for blazing power, building each narrative towards a soaring, emphatic crescendo where the intensity of each message blazes forth.
Sister Speak takes us on a deep, fascinating journey, but there is a beautiful, soft spoken coda (the bonus track “Catch Me As I Fall,” which has a similar vibe to the Oscar winning song “Falling Slowly” and allows Sherri to showcase her truly folky side in tandem (and in glorious harmony) with male singer Tolan Shaw.