SCOUT PARÉ-PHILLIPS – Fields of Ash

This 7" EP by singer/songwriter Scout Paré-Phillips (The Sterling Sisters) is very interesting and captivating, to put it mildly. It contains two songs that have absolutely nothing to do with metal music as such, but what Scout Paré-Phillips manages to conjure up on this EP musically and lyrically speaking is way darker and more melancholic than most metal bands can ever dream of achieving. I`m not really sure how to classify or label her music, but if I threw out words, terms, and adjectives such as "haunting", "folky", "morose", "soothing", "gothic", and "moving" I`m pretty sure that I would be on the right path to describing the beauty and moodiness of this pearl. Damn, I just love her vocals. They are almost operatic in places.

I could listen to these two songs over and over again, and though they have nothing to do with extreme music as such, the atmosphere present on "Fields of Ash" is just so much more moving and spine-tingling than, say, the endless black metal releases that are constantly flooding us. Any lover of dark, alternative music or just modern-day misery in general should consider giving "Fields of Ash" a spin. One can only hope that a full-length album will see the light of day in the future.

http://scoutparephillips.bandcamp.com/album/fields-of-ash-7