Sugar Still Melts in Rain
is the
Sinderlyn
debut of singer/songwriter
Sarah Mary Chadwick
, former leader of Australian post-grunge band
Batrider
. Continuing the spare but intense demeanor of her three prior solo releases, she eschews guitar this time around for piano, which is often accompanied by keyboards, bass, and drums. Though it's her third straight LP to be recorded in a studio with
Geoffrey O'Connor
(he also mixed the album), it retains the intimate, single-take, bedroom quality of all her solo music to date, as well as her distinctly raw vocals and tormented lyrics. In regards to the latter, the solo piano ballad "I Won't Say Goodbye" has
Chadwick
proclaiming over simple piano chords: "Next time, I'm gonna leave/Not be the one who's left to cry...And just like you, I won't say goodbye." The heartbreak is sustained on
through alternating moments of defiance, rumination, and despair. In keeping with the majority of the tracks, the album opens with just voice and piano on "Flow Over Me," which picks up a drum kit along the way. Fuller arrangements include the latter part of "Dance Slowly," and the title track, which features piano, bass, and drums replete with drum fills and a soaring vocal line. These types of differences make for high contrasts on what is an otherwise bare-bones set. Lyrics and raw emotion are
's focus, and it's easy to imagine a tight spotlight on the singer, with the piano evoking a floor show alongside her sometimes theatrical, always yearning vocal lines. ~ Marcy Donelson