Prickly Forests and Castles Made of Sand

Jardin Marjorelle

Apothecary

Essaouira

Camel prints

These photos were taken on a ten day trip to Morocco from which I have just returned. I stayed for a few days in the hippie beach town of Essaouira where Jimi Hendrix used to live and about which it is claimed he wrote the song 'Castles Made of Sand'.

In Marrakesh I took recordings of the drumming in Jamaa El Fna square, and also sampled peacock cries in Taroudant. So those may work their way into some songs of mine soon.

All Around This Room

Recently I contributed vocals to a track by 'The Baroque Blues Band'. The song is called 'All Around This Room' and it is from their album: '2nd Guitar Concerto in B#'.

The vocal is double tracked, sixties-style to get that slightly dreamy, echo-chamber feel. I hope you approve! Personally I always enjoy a bit of the sixties vibe.



You can hear more from 'The Baroque Blues Band' over at their bandcamp.

First Flight

Just over a week ago was the official release of my first songs out into the big wide world. They were accepted with open arms, which I am very grateful for. 

Here is some of the praise I was lucky enough to receive for my EP, thanks to Jeremy Daniel at Altsounds.com: 

'It isn't hard to imagine someone like Cassandra Solon Parry devoting herself to writing fantasy if she weren't already devoted to making music... Her lyrics are rife with images of phoenixes and paper birds, caterpillars and sea monsters that inhabit a world of lush gardens punctuated by rainbow moons and shooting stars—all of which makes it easy to imagine Parry's name gracing the spines of hard-bound fantasy novels.

Yet for all of the fantasy, her songs are rooted in the human condition, and those elements serve as vehicles for Parry's exploration of subjects ranging from heartache and joy to introspection and rebirth. Her lyrics are more suggestive than they are autobiographical, allowing the listener to connect personally with her words rather than just living vicariously through them. The music on Girl/Phoenix occupies a space somewhere between the melodrama of Bat For Lashes and the gothic chill of Zola Jesus, which lies in contrast to Parry's ethereal voice, resulting in a sound that can best be described as enchanting.

Parry paints bold strokes with her voice, and she's able to convey even the heaviest of emotion with a sense of grace and restraint. 'Rise' opens with Parry addressing the process of rebuilding after a broken heart: “Broken heart, broken head, broken ice/ Broken like a Cinderella slipper/Dashed like a fallen shooting star/“Gather up the splinters to re-create your eyes/ Rise.” Her tone is haunting but eerily comforting, and her voice reverberates from behind murky pools of synthesizers and sparkling chimes carried by a scraping electronica beat.

 

Over the thunderous rolls of percussion on 'Rainbow Moon', Parry contemplates both regret and resolution with lines like “I have no regrets, tears mixed into the rain/The wolf cries but the moon comes round again” that echo from far off in the distance, riding the shimmering waves of synthesizers that conjure feelings of rays of sun piercing through early morning clouds.

 

'Bambino' in turn is the most gentle song on here, and the most joyous in terms of both its music and lyrics; it begins with frail drips of piano and the sound of birds off in the distance followed by delicate chimes that resemble melting icicles falling to the ground. Parry's vocals are doe-eyed and even wondrous as she walks us through a serene garden with herself and her lover, along with a lovely lady and her child in tow. The 11-minutes of music on Girl/Phoenix amounts to peering through the keyhole of a door leading to a fantasy world that hopefully, Parry will allow us inside of sooner or later when she delivers a full-length album.'

 

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Well, we shall have to see about an album won't we... Encouraged by such a warm welcome I am working on some new songs. 

Oh my, it seems what looked very much like an ending might be a beginning after all...

CDs and Ribbon Bows

So here are the CDs for my first release, the 'Girl/Phoenix' EP, with cover art by Daria Hlazatova. The CD sleeves are printed on 100% recycled card and even though the discs are 'vinyl-look' don't be fooled - they will play on any regular CD hifi, but wouldn't be very cooperative on a turntable. If you'd like one you can place an order over at my Bandcamp . They are on sale for £4.00.

It was so wonderful to work with Daria on this project. If you don't already know her work, she is a Ukrainian artist inspired by fairytale, theatre and music. A lot of her work is online at 'All Pencils of Mine are Sugar Plums' where you can buy her original drawings and prints. I am the very proud owner of a Joanna Newsom portrait of hers, which to be honest I'm just pleased Joanna didn't nab first (as much as I love and adore her)!

Hope you like the CDs!

The Girl/Phoenix EP

The first Moth Rah songs are now online and the debut, three track, 'Girl/Phoenix' EP is ready to share!

Here are the songs from the EP:

Rise

.

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Rainbow Moon

Bambino

There is a limited edition print run of CDs available to pre-order over at the Moth Rah bandcamp where you can also download the songs for free. The Girl/Phoenix EP comes on a vinyl-look CD in a 100% recycled card sleeve, illustrated by the wonderful Ukrainian artist, Daria Hlazatova:

More on this soon!

An Autumnal Adventure

For the longest time I've had an artist crush on Courtney Brooke, aka 'Light Witch'. I find her enthusiasm and working method no less inspiring than the wonderful, enchanting images she creates. So it was in the spirit of that creative adventurousness that my good friend Rhodora Taft and I headed out one Sunday with a camera and a suitcase full of satin and lace to the local wilderness of Richmond Park. And, of course, it was all in honour of the newly launched Moth Rah music project!

We were lucky to have gone on one of the few days this year that the sun was shining down on London! It was also in the middle of deer rutting season and we were startled several times that day by the formidable roaring of stags as they competed with each other to be head of a female harem. We did attempt to get a few in shot but they were not very cooperative.

As the sun came down, having got all the shots we wanted and got very cold in the process, we were very happy to march back down Richmond hill and reward our efforts with mugs of hot chocolate and some very, very nice shortbread!

Here's just a few of the pictures that Rhodora took of me that day. I think the top one is my favourite...

Moth Rah Emerges

For a long time there has been silence and stillness,

Nothing is living. All that remains is a shroud.

And then, in defiance, there is a change, a shift - 

Beneath the strange, translucent fabric, darkness becomes light,

And you see that there is life after all.

The husk of what was, and what has passed now, is torn apart:

Oh miracle, oh impossible wonder!

Before your very eyes,

Moth Rah is born into the air.

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When I was only little I used to like watching the Japanese Godzilla films, where men dressed in bumbling dinosaur costumes would stomp about and roar at one another, always with the eventual aim of saving the world. Well of course, what else would they be about? But the thing that enthralled my child self was the divine Mothra: giant she-moth, beneficent deity, fiercesome elemental force. She would always come when her Priestesses called to her in their need with the power of their sacred song.

Well, I'm sure you can see why I was so inspired...

Now I have begun to write my own songs, in the spirit of a spell or a prayer, to try and connect with the elemental and the wild and to harness some of that strange power that you might sense sometimes, perhaps when you look up into the face of the moon.

...Still, her great wings beat, unseen...

Songs and more to follow, soon...