River Sisters

The female trio Sutari have a distinctive place in the Polish musical landscape. Kasia Kapela, Basia Songin and Zosia Zembrzuska all sing and accompany themselves on fiddle, bass and various percussion instruments. They also add breaths, whispering, ululating and other vocal effects. Their songs are original yet clearly draw on traditional sources. They describe River Sisters, which is their third album together, as ‘a dialogue with folkloric traditions, embracing the themes of nature, freedom, feminism and sisterhood.’

There's a ritualistic quality to many of the tracks as their voices intertwine with each other over rhythmic ostinatos often over a drone bass. All the sounds are acoustic except for an electric bass on ‘Matchmaking’. The water is calm although richly textured for the opening number ‘And Water’, but gets more rigorous on ‘Lily Geese’ and ‘Flow’. The ecological theme is certainly timely. While I don't find the songs as haunting as on their previous Osty (Thistles) album, there's a consistent vision and their voices are braided as streams into a flowing river.