Ex-Girl: A Quick Review Of The New EP From Alexis Castrogiovanni

The music of Alexis Castrogiovanni is full of the kind of stark power that signifies Art. I don't mean that as a dismissive comment, but rather, that the classically-trained musician and singer is making bold work on her debut EP. Further, Someday My Thoughts Will Be Like A Range of Mountains isn't meant to be easily digested and consumed. It's full of emotions, and jarring juxtapositions of cello and voice.

"Ex-Girl" seems to have drawn inspiration from PJ Harvey, while the title cut both soothes and chills the blood. Alexis uses her voice like the strings of her cello, and the trembling of one seems to mirror or echo the trembling of the other. Things reach a faster pitch on the brief "A Certain Point", a highlight here. Closer "To Catch a Feeling" is the sort of thing to draw comparisons to Tori Amos, but Alexis Castrogiovanni makes this still sound utterly unique. There's a primal rawness here that is served well by the precise and sparse choice in instrumentation and production.

Someday My Thoughts Will Be Like a Range of Mountains by Alexis Castrogiovanni is out now.

[Photo: Mariam Waliji]