Kaery Ann
„Songs Of Grace And Ruin“
Desert Rock, Post-Rock, Psych, Doom. Black Vinyl, Italy. 2023

I stumbled across Kaery Ann on YouTube. I quickly clicked on her Bandcamp page and ordered both her debut and her second album. The music this Italian singer makes resonates perfectly with me and triggers my emotional "must-have" impulse. A good, clear voice that exudes something mystical. And despite quite a bit of reverb, it's easy to understand. Slow, doomy drums, sometimes "hard" riffs, sometimes folky, sometimes reminiscent of desert rock. A melancholic, dreamy mix of different styles. Not prog, but it speaks to my prog-loving heart.

We're dealing with Erika Azzini, who began channeling her sometimes difficult personal experiences into songs in 2017. Initially just with a guitar, she started arranging her first demos. Two years later, she met Francesca Papi (bass). She suggested re-recording the songs with Davide Rosa (guitar), which ultimately led to this album. Emotional purchases can backfire, which thankfully rarely happens to me. 

As the heavily blurred cover and the title already suggest, the sound is permeated by the juxtaposition of melancholic and aggressive moods. At the same time, it retains its inherent delicacy: seductive, ethereal vocals, hypnotic guitar delays and distortions, and a heavy, dark bass. All of this results in a blend of dreamy, psychedelic desert rock and doom.

„People are to lazy, to listen to slow Songs. People are to crazy, to find what they looking for“. These are the first two lines of „Rust and Love“A slow, doom-laden track. Melancholic. For me, the strongest song. The second track „Blue Eyes“ Since the rhythm is quite similar, I'll move on to the third song, which is fittingly „Desert Song“  It's called. Even though the rhythm is quite similar, it thrives on the light desert-rock guitar. What comes across as dark here comes across in „Moon Lies“ It comes out more cheerful. For me, it's a very good song, as it brings some variety.

„Mother“ His spoken lyrics have a cyberpunk feel to them. That's probably just my impression. Anyway, it's a good track. Also really good is „Accoustic Rain“I really like how the lyrics are embedded in the rhythm of the music here. „Imaginary Room“. A melancholic song that I find quite okay. „Storm“, Its dark atmosphere adds a bit of dynamism to the game. „White Cage“ is a worthy ejector.

There are many things Kaery Ann does right. Technically, it sounds very clean. However, it doesn't sound experimental; it's meant to sound exactly like this. And that's a slight problem for me with this album. It sounds too similar, especially in the way she emphasizes the lyrics. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but a few more playful experiments would have done the record good. Nevertheless, this debut album offers more than just average fare—quite the opposite, in fact. As a fan of this kind of music, I enjoy putting it on now and then to set the right mood. The vinyl sounds pretty good. That's not always the case with this type of music.

Bass – Francesca Papi
Drums – Andrea Volpato
Guitar – Davide Rosa
Lead Vocals – Erika Azzini

The photos are all from my LP. The rights to all motifs, logos, texts and fonts that can be seen in the photos are of course owned by the copyright holder.

No AI was used in the making of this Review.
©06.08.2026