With a name derived from the formidable nature and death witch Baba Yaga of Slavic folklore, you might presume the music of Bella Yaga would be all doom and darkness. On the contrary, Bella Yaga’s debut album Slipped From A Subtle Skin lingers gently prose-like, a beautiful musical meditation.
The album is the music and performance project of multi-disciplinary artist Anna Johnson, who after studying art felt a bit of a disconnect to it. After finding a sense of liberation in the writing of poetry Johnson intuitively became a songwriter, her prose winding its way through every song on the record. With the addition of talented musicians and creators (Alia Jeraj, Alana Horton, Joni Griffith and Peter Morrow) from the theater world Bella Yaga was born.
The result is utterly beguiling and beautiful. Johnson’s lyrics are shrouded in the vocal stylings of folk while the music takes an electronic bent. This is not the folk of recent times, but rather the sound is evocative of ancient folk ballads that echo in a primal way as if imprinted somewhere within our very genetic make up.
Slipped From A Subtle Skin as a whole sets a gracefully fluid pace. Seldom do songs feel so musically balanced as these, with compositions that perfectly enhance and strike just right for a subtle, yet dramatic effect. “Fishernets” is a gorgeous example of this with Johnson’s melodic voice draped to an appreciable effect by a finely finger picked guitar and an emotionally transformative violin. The result is completely entrancing.
https://youtu.be/0LiH58yiT58
Sadly, the band has recently known tragedy as their equipment and practice space were lost in the Robert Shoes Building fire May of this year just after the recording of the album was completed. An incredibly emotional time for the band, something we are sure to see evidence of at their upcoming album release show.
In keeping with Johnson’s training as a multi-disciplinary artist the record release show this Saturday, August 4th at Open Eye Theater will feature puppeteers, video artists, dancers, clowns and projections, as well as the music of Eric Mayson.
~Rebecca Marx
You must be logged in to post a comment.