The 'Behind Me' EP by Noah Seleno

Noah Seleno fans will I'm sure be so delighted that she is releasing music regularly at the moment. I know I am.

Out now is a new EP called ‘Behind Me': it has a trio of tracks of which  "I Will Go" will be more familiar as it appeared (and been reviewed in the magazine) in its own right.

Therefore I'll turn my full attention onto the newbies, "Stockholm" first.

I must say that it's another great example of how in this one artist we receive (a) the creativity of a totally unique imagination (b) which in turn is mediated via an equally unique set of performance characteristics and (c) honed by a perfectionist who would rather put out rarely as long as the results were this good & precisely what she intended.

Noah seems to possess titanium strength artistic resolve yet her attitude to self publicity is a blend of modesty & diffidence. Which is why her star shines brightly in the skies of many aficionados but hasn't yet reached a wider local audience. Maybe that's the why she likes it: the intensity of her muse probably militates against swimming in the mass media ocean but I think it's a bit of a shame that one of the most talented local voices (both compositionally & in delivery) remains something of a secret.

At any rate, she is so darned distinctive that you can't mistake her for anyone else.

Returning to "Stockholm" after that little diversion, this is something of a narrative poem, I'm guessing (bit dangerous I know) not that it's set in the Swedish capital, but more a reference to the syndrome and frankly there is plenty of supporting evidence for the latter in the lyrics. Though for all I know the action may have a Swedish setting too. That's the great thing about allusion.

Employing a sort of haiku form to set the scene, to which Noah returns throughout the song, it breaks into the usual gorgeous lush passages which one finds in her songs and what on the surface seem rather blissful memories.

The title track ("Behind Me") features a rather different vocal approach and switches the bliss for more domestic images (though with Noah you always get the feeling that taking her pictures literally is probably missing the point). The mundanity soon dissolves away when the realisation hits you: is she singing about a ghost? Once again, there is a sufficiency of lyrical support if that's what you want to take away from the song. If it is a phantom, then there is another layer of ambiguity as Noah offers the possibility in her singing strategy that she's not necessarily scared but enjoys the nostalgia & reconnection.

Listen out too for the bass playing: I don't recall this element playing such a vital role in the arrangement of any of her other songs.

At this point I'm going to take an even more risky leap and take all three songs plus this year's earlier "Unkind" and "Regret/Forget" to wonder to what extent they are takes on a single episode or related episodes? There certainly seem elements of common emotional ground and connected perspectives.

I may sound tentative in trying to communicate what I think Noah's songs may "mean". That's good I'm sure as they are so poetic as to accommodate various personal interpretations. Who wants one whose content is revealed on first play leaving nothing for further exploration? I don't. She may even have a chortle at my comments above if they miss the mark. That's fair.