In a one minute spoken word section on 'First Days of June' Samantha Marais drifts into an Ophelia like trance-state wherein she conjures up a beguiling image of wailing witches freaking out.
This is a welcome interlude in this pair of otherwise fairly traditional folk songs taken from her debut album 'The Peppermint Conspiracy' on Youth's new label.
The other song is 'Please Take Your Time' - a gentle non acrimonious break-up song which uses the Sweet Jane riff and features lead vocals from an oddly uncredited male (Killing Joke’s Nick Holywell-Walker?).
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The tweeness of both songs is, I would say, deliberate and all part of their ethereal charm - the type of tunes tailor made to entertain kindred spirits around a camp fire.
Sam Marais' songs and voice are easy on the ear but the eccentricity is too reigned in for my taste. While there are hints at the wide-eyed Vashti Bunyan style wonderment , a little less reserve and more worldly weirdness would go a long way.
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