Sweden's Sandra Sumie Nagano was born in Gotenburg and began recording in 2008, a few years after becoming a mother. "Having two small children [meant] I could not make much noise", she says and this, in part, explains the quiet lullaby-like quality to her delicate songs.
Producer Dustin O'Halloran adds the subtlest of touches to what is effectively the sound of one woman's voice and a lilting acoustic guitar. A piano on the closing track Sailor Friends is the only other instrumentation.
The effect is simple yet there's mystery too as in words which don't tell stories yet evoke a peaceful, reflective mood. Witness majestic lines like "I watched events unfold while the moon touched my soul" which she sings on Burden Of Ease.
She sounds a little like label-mate Marissa Nadler without the same obsession with death. The soothing stillness and grace has a hypnotic effect.
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Sumie's Japanese father made the cover art and the Eastern influence is also visually evident in the video to the single Show Talked Windows.
The fragility of the songs demand the kind of attention that would be hard to reproduce in a live setting but if she finds audiences patient enough to listen there's magic to be shared.
Sumie's website
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