Kariti Premieres “Cairn to You” Video; Covered Mirrors Vinyl Now Available
This past Friday, Italian ambient folk mostly-soloist kariti — all-lowercase styling preferred — oversaw the release of her debut album, Covered Mirrors (review here) on vinyl. To put that into context, Covered Mirrors first came out in September 2020, and when I interviewed Kariti over a year ago about it, the LP release was already in the works. That is a pandemic-delayed platter, right there. Née Katerina, kariti isn’t the only one to experience such a holdup, of course, and even before the plague it was entirely possible for an album to see release on one format before another might surface, but still, oof.
Two things about such a delay are fortunate. Primarily, it gives an excuse to revisit Covered Mirrors as a whole. The Aural Music release — which in addition to Katerina boasts guest spots from engineer Lorenzo Della Rovere on (acoustic/slide guitar) and from Grime‘s Marco Matta (electric guitar) — retains its atmospheric and emotional weight, creating an ambience born of Eastern European traditionalism and a mournfulness that ties it to the more modern style of neofolk. You could probably stretch and call it goth if you wanted to, but there’s less outright drama or theatricality than that tag might generally imply.
Secondarily, the delay has allowed kariti to include “Cairn to You” as a bonus track specifically for the LP edition of Covered Mirrors. As she explains below, the song was written after the album-proper was done. A cairn, as it happens, is a monument of piled stone to a person or an event, and the song accordingly deals with a personal loss. Given the time in which the song came about, the conversation about grief as a kind of trauma done to the brain is certainly appropriate, and the song has a patient, slowly-unfurling breadth, lightly plucked guitar and Katerina‘s voice accompanying in a way that feels both exploratory in sound and sincere in its emotive crux.
That can be a tough balance to strike, but what most ties “Cairn to You” to Covered Mirrors is how fluidly those sides come together. “Cairn to You” premieres in the video below, and the entirety of Covered Mirrors is streaming at the bottom of this post courtesy of kariti‘s Bandcamp.
Please enjoy:
kariti, “Cairn to You” video premiere
kariti on “Cairn to You”:
I wrote “Cairn to You” after already finishing recording Covered Mirrors, in an attempt to help myself process the pain and frustration of a recent loss. This song is about coming to realise how, despite our desire to commemorate someone or something with physical objects, actions or designated places, those really are quite futile, as the moment we experience bereavement our psyche is altered forever and this itself is the only permanent memento we will have for the rest of our lives. When the decision to release Covered Mirrors on vinyl was made, it only seemed natural this song belonged on the record.
‘Cairn to You’ is the 10th song off Covered Mirrors, which was never released or played before. it was added as a bonus track to the vinyl version of the album.
the video was shot on a 90’s mini dv camera in the italian forest by Laura Sans Gassó https://laurasanstudio.com/
the limited edition white vinyl is out on March 4, 2022. to buy:
Deaf Sparrow (USA/Canada): https://www.deafsparrow.com/store/preorder-kariti-covered-mirrors-limited-edition-white-vinyl/
Aural Music (rest of the world): https://kariti.bandcamp.com/album/covered-mirrors-3
