Year Without Spring and tripping the light fantastic
somesurprises recently released a beautiful sounding three-song EP, Year Without Spring. The mesmerizing voice of Natasha El-Sergany can be heard on these three tunes, as well as contributions from bandmate Josh Medina and Evan Hashi. I’ve said before how much I like “Ship Circles” from last year’s Perseids album. If you also like that song, I think you’ll love these too!
“Year Without Spring” has been tripping a lot of wires for me as I listen to it on my morning walks.
Natasha noted that her grandmother was in the photograph of the EP’s artwork. The photo is black and white, with an angular feel while only having empty space at its center. Seven young girls along the sides look to be playing schoolyard games or under the instruction of physical education activities that involve cooperating with others.
This reminded me that Natasha and I had a brief exchange last year about how special and dear grandmothers can be. The sustained calm of Natasha’s singing voice reminds me of how my grandmother used to read books to me and my sister. My grandmother could make a story out of any illustration and tell it in such a relaxing, mesmerizing manner. How did she do it?! Grammy Dot must have been a precursor to my slight fascination with ASMR, lol.
About this time last year I declared somesurprises’ Perseids my favourite album of 2024 and the laid-back magic carpet ride that I hoped the summer would be. My 2024 didn’t turn out to be magic at all, but at least there was Perseids. My partner and I lost several people dear to us. Most recently loss resulted in acquiring a bag of handwritten letters that my Nana had kept for many decades. Most of the letters had been sent between her and my grandfather just before and during WWII. I began reading the letters and realized I was in the mind-blowing process of getting to know my grandparents during a stage of their lives that their offspring would never have access to. I’ve put it aside for a bit, finding it a bit of an intense puzzle to make sense of. The people, the places, the time, the language… all these words with no pictures and no narrator making calm sense of it all.
“It’s raining today and it’s a sleep inducer. But having a lot to do keeps me going,” wrote Mildred. “Charlie, I have some new earrings. They are gold butterflies. Real fetching.”
So far my favourite detail is my grandfather suggesting that he and my Nana ‘trip the light fantastic’ the next time they see each other. I’m guessing they eventually did. I wonder what the music was?
Damn. Make sure you trip the light fantastic with your people this summer, people. I know a lot of musicians don’t make music explicitly for others, but somewhere out there someone might just be trippin’ the light fantastic to it.
Thank you for sharing your songs and your voice, Natasha.
Proceeds from Bandcamp sales of the somesurprises’ Year Without Spring EP will go to a grassroots social services organization in the US assisting undocumented and/or unaccompanied youth - more about that here. Follow somesurprises on Instagram to hear about live show dates.
Also, you can read the Q+A with Natasha El-Sergany for more on Perseids.