On “a boy called ear,” Demi Spriggs (Athens, Greece/ London, UK), takes traditional British folk melodies and pairs them with freak-folk influences and shoegaze improv. The result is a four-song EP that walks between past and present — evoking feelings of melancholy, world-weariness, and brief moments of joy set across its tales of love and loss. 

Spriggs, who is also a visual artist, ethnographer, and doctoral candidate, isn’t the first to marry old English folk songs with modern songwriting sensibilities. There’s a long list, ranging from 1960s/70s folk-rock bands Fairport Convention and Pentangle; the 1990s/ 2000s freak folk scenes; as well as contemporary folk artists such as Anaïs Mitchell and Laura Marling.

But what Demi Spriggs does well on a boy called ear is present a unique take to time-honored folk ballads; tying together feminist themes in these story-song narratives. 

In doing so, she’s created new tales of her own that align with the role of the bard. She’s the storyteller who weaves a yarn of history, myths, and ritual into verse; transfiguring the past to speak about the here and now. 

Demi Spriggs’ high and mellifluous voice is coupled with her intricate nylon-stringed guitar fingerpicking, which produces an intimate and emotionally-present record. These stripped-down arrangements lend themselves to these songs, which are nestled between desire, sadness, and hope. 

Released on Jan 12, this is Spriggs’ first project with New Paltz, New York-based record label Team Love Records. The label was founded in 2003 by indie folk artist Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) and musician and owner Nate Krenkel. 

The EP’s opener, “holding fair,” begins with an a cappella quote of Scarborough Fair: “Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.” From there, Spriggs builds a scene of a relationship slowly falling apart. 

Musically, there’s a mix of emotions; effervescent and bittersweet that captures the euphoria of the early stages of love and the sting of rejection. “My love/ You can’t chase time/ And you can’t hold the fairest ones down.” 

And on “a tale of love and sadness,” Spriggs’ winding fretwork with her pure and honeyed voice contrasts with themes of unrequited love. The song left me feeling as though a part of me had been hollowed out. It summoned a rising tide of old memories — haunting and beautiful. 

The highlight of the record is “if you don’t say it, the wheat will,” which sees Spriggs as a sayer steeped in ancient melodies with a portent message. It’s part folk ballad and part Greek epicedium with a foreboding sense of loss.

There’s an eerie calmness to Spriggs’ vocal delivery, which adds tension to the plaintive narrative. “And I see them in the fields/ Shadows of the ones who flew/ Of the men who didn’t know/ That they were dying before they grow.”

A boy called ear closes with the electric guitar-driven shoegaze instrumental “escalator jazz.” This drone-focused piece is a departure from the rest of the EP stylistically, but still emotionally fits with its wistful experimental improv. 

Spriggs’ wrote on her Bandcamp page that “escalator jazz” acts as a bridge for a future release titled “Night Folkways” — an experimental folk project with looped textures, vocals, and FX pedals. Although it serves as a connective thread between the releases, “escalator jazz” doesn’t seem like a memorable way to close out the EP. The beating heart of this record lies with Spriggs’ abilities to bring new ideas to traditional folk storytelling. 
Despite the lack of cohesion at its end, Demi Spriggs’ a boy called ear is a heartfelt collection of songs that takes inspiration from the past, while moving forward with inventiveness and a willingness to experiment with the folk genre.

Written by Chris Goudreau