<p><span><span><span>- Growing up isn’t easy. Many of us try to pretend that, at any given point, the person you see sprang fully formed into the world, as we surreptitiously stand in front of every wrong turn and foolish life decision that led to it, hoping to block them from everyone’s view. It takes a special force of courage to put every flaw and blemish under the spotlight, for public consumption, perhaps more even than the well of exhibitionism that fuels your average artist. Sebya, for all of his gentle, meandering folk and small, creaky voice, has that courage.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><em>Sebya</em><span>, the self-titled EP of </span><strong>Demetry Malahoff</strong><span>, simply means ‘myself’, in Russian, and documents quite an extended period: five or six years, during which time he turned eighteen and moved, with few connections, to a new town; oh, and of course he fell in love. More than all of that, it’s also the time that Demetry followed the classic DIY path, teaching himself, with amateur gusto, to play various instruments, work out the difference between microphones and wrap everything together into the audible memory of his coming of age.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>Again, belying that soft, folky sound, </span><em>Sebya</em><span> is often, tumultuously emo. Love and other personal connections are a stormy affair for Malahoff. He almost whispers, deadpan, lines like “</span><em>I guess some could say I took my pain out in a good way / I guess some could say I took my pain out on myself / I can't help you if you don't want me there.</em><span>” The opening songs of the EP, </span><em>I</em><span> </span><em>Am Seeing You</em><span> and </span><em>I Scream You Scream </em><span>are as relentlessly, quietly troubled as, say, </span><strong>HTRK</strong><span>. Wait, HTRK? If that doesn’t sound very much like what I’ve described so far, it’s curious, for all the folky, acoustic guitar strumming you’ll hear on the EP, Malahoff has given himself a broad palette to work with. Drums, melodica, synths, even trombone populate the echoing production. It’s a folk-fusion that snakes its way out of the genre, through indie and on into slowcore, artrock and even postrock. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>Malahoff’s influences that I know of are interesting and really help to characterise what he’s doing here. He namechecks </span><strong>Jake Core</strong><span>’s evocative, experimental folk project </span><strong>Soda Eaves</strong><span> and, delightfully, Iceland’s </span><strong>múm</strong><span>, with their happy muddle of folk, synths, brass and experimental cuteness which -back in the day- was called folktronica. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>In line with the euphoric oddity of múm it isn’t all doom and gloom here. Off-kilter love songs like </span><em>Sweet Cheeks</em><span> saunter happily through a rosy coloured nostalgia, going full-trad-folk, lyrically at least, as Malahoff compares his romantic squeeze to an aromatic bunch of chervil. Credit to </span><strong>Sophie Tulloch</strong><span> for aiding those múm comparisons, adding the warmth and weight of a trombone to a couple of cuts, including the Australiana and post-rock swell of </span><em>Thunder Nights.</em></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>It’s worth noting that Demetry Malahoff is no slouch at the acoustic guitar, making it the solid bedrock of songcraft over which he drapes all of his other, more indulgently unusual sounds. You get the feeling that he could strip away the other affectations and produce a finely observed folk record that would stand in good stead with the likes of </span><strong>Pascal Babare</strong><span> or </span><strong>Obscura Hail </strong><span>(when they’re in folk mode, too).</span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>Speaking of other folkies, I hear Sebya’s next outing will be a collaboration with another local, </span><strong>Edgar Hurley</strong><span>. The record of Demetry Malahoff’s late teens and early twenties may be full of pain and uncertainty, but, one of the perks of this kind of project is that you can draw a line under the experiences it relates and learn to be better in the future. Collaboration and emotional connection are the future now for Sebya and promise some quite different things to come. That in no way detracts from a record that is as bold, creative and adventurous as it is soft, sad and troubled. Would that all our self-portraits captured us in such a favourable light.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>- Chris Cobcroft.</span></span></span></p>
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2845533317/size=large/bgcol=f…; seamless><a href="https://sebya.bandcamp.com/album/sebya">Sebya by Sebya</a></iframe>