The Savage And The Small

by A Seated Craft

"Solar driven squalls… the breath peels back and falls… makes atoms of us all… the savage and the small...” With a hauntingly clear voice, Alexia Peniguel – the woman behind indie-folk solo project “A Seated Craft” - spins tales of stars tapping out Morse code and skylines sulking, birds with eyes like marzipan and hearts that won’t let go. Her album “The Savage and the Small” provides the listener with the soundtrack to an inner world emerging from its own cocoon; drawing us in with her magnetic vocals, musicianship and narrative skill.

There are eleven songs in total on the album, eleven self-contained worlds built around unusual themes such as celestial motions and shifting landscapes, as well as more universal ones of yearning, identity and the search for a new life. And for good reason: after finishing vocal and jazz performance studies in Melbourne in 2004, Alexia moved to Berlin, where she quietly established herself from scratch, now calling the place home.

Both reflective and joyful, the album’s unorthodox arrangements, produced by respected Australian producer Tony Dupé, imbue the songs with life. Parlour guitars collide with woodwind and dance waltzes with impulsive accordions, double bass slides mournfully down to join an undulating choir of strings, only to be born back up again by a joyful flock of piano keys migrating north.

released January 13, 2012