Sea Souls

Violinist and composer Anna Phoebe’s Sea Souls is an evocation of the sea, as well as a look back at 2020 and the first lockdown, with all its uncertainties, challenges, and worries. Blending beautiful, rich, and imaginative instrumental and vocal combinations with deft digital effects, Phoebe conjures the fragility of the light dancing on the surface of the sea (“Light on Waves”), the moon reflecting off the shingle (“Moon”), and the stillness of the sea at sundown (“Sirens”), before diving below the surface to darker emotions. “Undercurrent” has an urgency, with pulsing, restless synth, piano, vocals, and strings that create moments of intense claustrophobia. The three-movement Sea Drift suite brings us to the surface once more, floating freely, at one with the water. “Beyond Horizons” ends where the album starts, Phoebe’s mesmeric music set against the sound of the salty wash.