West of Roan – Queen of Eyes

Annie Schermer and Channing Showalter, also part of the freak-folk foursome Doran, realize the potential of the concept album on multiple levels. First, there is method. Writing original songs that quilt together stories from many different origin points, Schermer and Showalter seek the commonalities among legends, myths and folktales from diverse spots on the globe: their ancestors’ homelands in Northern Europe, but also the world’s oldest-known myths, from Sumer in what is now south-central Iraq, to batonebo songs originating in Georgia, in the Caucasus mountains, sung by mothers to ill children to rid them of the demons afflicting them. Composing solo or together, they bring these haunting tunes to each other as gifts. Though their formal training takes them out of the category of “outsider artists,” Schermer and Showalter beautifully honor a central aspect of folk art: the blend of far-flung stories and sources and idiosyncratic, internal insights. Then there’s how they recorded this album: In their remote, off-grid cabin off the coast of Washington state, they sat close together on a piano bench, singing into an Ear Trumpet condenser microphone designed to capture room noise and breathing as well as the notes they gently spilled forth.

This excerpt is taken from an essay that first appeared in the NPR Music newsletter. Sign up for early access to articles like this one, Tiny Desk exclusives, listening recommendations and more.