Thayer Sarrano is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and visual artist. Besides her solo work, she has collaborated with numerous bands as a touring member or session player, and is strongly affiliated with the music scene of

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the st ...

. She has released five albums, all of which have received positive reviews, with her music being referred to as shoegaze, psychedelic folk and

Southern Gothic Southern Gothic is an artistic subgenre of fiction, country music, film and television that are heavily influenced by Gothic elements and the American South. Common themes of Southern Gothic include storytelling of deeply flawed, disturbing o ...

Early life and career

Sarrano grew up in a small town in southern Georgia after having lived in a monastic seminary as a preschooler. She studied piano at Berry college and then moved to Athens, GA, having enrolled at UGA as an art student. There, musically educated since the age of 3 and having shown an earlier interest in poetry, she took up songwriting and started collaborating with local musicians, which led to her releasing solo albums, ''

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ...

'' (2009) and '' Lift Your Eyes to the Hills'' (2012), Shaky (2015), Wings Alleluia (2019) and a career as a session musician recording with several other acts (

Discography Discography is the study and cataloging of published sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified music genres. The exact information included varies depending on the type and scope of the discography, but a discography entry ...

) and touring with of Montreal, Kuroma and

Dead Confederate Dead Confederate was an American alternative rock band, formed in Augusta, Georgia and based in Athens, Georgia. The band's sound was described as a mix of alternative country, psychedelic rock and grunge, and has drawn comparisons to Nirvana and ...

. She also toured for several years as a member of

Cracker Cracker, crackers or The Crackers may refer to: Animals * ''Hamadryas'' (butterfly), or crackers, a genus of brush-footed butterflies * ''Sparodon'', a monotypic genus whose species is sometimes known as "Cracker" Arts and entertainment Films ...

, and

Camper Van Beethoven Camper Van Beethoven is an American rock band formed in Redlands, California in 1983, later based in Santa Cruz and San Francisco. Their style mixes elements of pop, ska, punk rock, folk, alternative country, and world music. The band ini ...

, Sarrano is also a counselor at Camp Amped, a camp for teenage musicians held at Nuçi's Space, to which a portion of the sales of her second album is donated.

Musical style and reception

According to Sarrano, she was influenced by the music she was familiar with while growing up, church chanting being her first contact with music, along with gospel, folk and southern rock, with later influences like

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped de ...

Velvet Underground Weave details visible on a purple-colored velvet fabric Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed, with a short pile, giving it a distinctive soft feel. By extension, the word ''velvety'' means " ...

and

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fu ...

. She also mentions

Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recog ...

and other poets, and the connection between her songwriting and painting processes. Reviewing ''King'', Americana UK has called her "the new queen of shoegaze", noting the "spookiness" achieved with the lap steel, repetitive lyrics, dissonance and Sarrano's voice, and compared her to

Mazzy Star Mazzy Star is an American alternative rock band formed in 1988 in Santa Monica, California, from remnants of the group Opal. Founding member David Roback's friend Hope Sandoval became the group's vocalist when Kendra Smith left Opal. Mazzy St ...

and

Mary Margaret O'Hara Mary Margaret O'Hara is a Canadian singer-songwriter, actress and composer. She is best known for the album ''Miss America'', released in 1988. She released two albums and an EP under her own name, and remains active as a live performer, as a con ...

. ''Lift Your Eyes to the Hills'' features a heavy use of reverb, echoes, multi-tracked vocals, organ and pedal steel, flowing and diffuse sounds creating a "dark and dreamy" style (it "is made of layers of shifting sound strata"), mixed with repetitive, personal experience based lyrics and spiritual imagery. It was chosen in the ''Top 10 Records of the Year (so far)'' by Flagpole Magazine (8/12), ''Top 10 Records of 2012'' by Chris Sikich, City Paper, Philadelphia, and ''Top 20 Records of 2012'' by WuOG Radio. Shaky was on numerous top lists as well as flagpole magazine music award 2016. Wings Alleluia (2019) was recorded with Athens Cowboy Choir and features more classical choral elements with a dark and dreamy atmosphere. Sarrano released a live album with her arrangements for chamber strings at the Georgia Theatre 2017.

Discography

As Thayer Sarrano

*''Wings Alleluia'' (2019) – LP * Acoustic Chamber: Live from the Georgia Theatre (2017) live * I Will Never Be Used to Your Beauty (2017) 7inch *''Shaky'', (2015) LP *''Lift Your Eyes to the Hills'', (2012) – LP *''King'', (2009) – LP *''The Bend'', (2011) – single for

Groninger Museum The Groninger Museum () is an art museum in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. The museum exhibits modern and contemporary art of local, national, and international artists. The museum opened in 1874. The current post-modernist building c ...

Collaborations

Alessi's Ark Alessi's Ark is the musical project of Alessi Laurent-Marke (born 30 June 1990), an English singer-songwriter. Career Named after the Italian design company, Alessi Laurent-Marke grew up in Hammersmith, London where her father, Alan Marke, is ...

, ''The Still Life'' (2013, Bella Union Records) – Keys *

Anders Parker Anders Parker is an American singer-songwriter, guitar player, singer and multi-instrumentalist with a career spanning two decades. He has performed and recorded as a solo artist and as a key member in bands such as Varnaline and Space Needle. ...

, (2013) – Keys *

Band of Horses Band of Horses is an American rock band formed in 2004 in Seattle, Washington. Led by singer-songwriter Ben Bridwell, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes, the band's current line-up also incl ...

, ''Georgia'' single, split with

CeeLo Green Thomas DeCarlo Callaway - Burton (born May 30, 1975), known professionally as CeeLo Green (or Cee Lo Green), is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer and actor. He is known for his work in hip hop and R&B, including the Gnarl ...

(2010, Columbia) – Keys * Bloodkin, ''One Long Hustle'' (2013, Terminus) – Vocals *

The Corduroy Road ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

, (2013) – Piano *

, ''Peyote People'', (2013, Spiderbomb Records) – Vocals, ''In the Marrow'' (2013, Spiderbomb Records) – Vocals * Dennis Ellsworth, ''Dusk Dreams'' (2012) – Keys, Vocals * Dare Dukes, ''Bone Thugs and China Dolls'' (2012, Mazarine) – Piano *

Futurebirds Futurebirds are an American indie rock band formed in 2008 from Athens, Georgia, United States.Leahey, AndrewFuturebirds Biography, Allmusic, retrieved 2011-07-05 Their first album, ''Hampton's Lullaby'', was released via the Aquarium Drunkard im ...

, ''Hampton's Lullaby'' (2010, Autumn Tone Records) – Piano, ''Baba Yaga'', (2013, Fat Possum Records/VL4L) – Piano * Harouki Zombi, ''Objet Petit A'' (2012, Polyvinyl) – Vocals *

Hope for agoldensummer Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

, ''Life inside the body,'' (2012, Mazarine) – Piano, Vocals * Jim White, ''Sounds of the Americans'' (2011) – Vocals * Justin Evans, ''The Owls and the Hounds'' (2009) – Keys, Vocals *

Kishi Bashi Kaoru Ishibashi (born November 4, 1975), who performs as Kishi Bashi, is an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter currently based in Athens, Georgia. He was a founding member of Jupiter One and, for a few years, was a member of ...

, ''151a'' (2012, Joyful Noise Recordings) – Vocals *

Lera Lynn Lera Lynn (born December 5, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. Early life Born in Houston, Texas, Lynn was raised in Georgia. She has a bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of Georgia. Before atte ...

, ''Have You Met Lera Lynn'' (2011, Slow Records) – Piano * Little Francis, ''Don't Leave Me Now'' podcast – Piano, Vocals * Matt Hudgins, ''Hitmakers, Volume 1'' (2011) – Pedal Steel * Paul Gaines, ''The Beat'' (2010) – Keys, Vocals * St. Francis, (2013, Chromatone) – Piano * T.Hardy Morris, ''Audition Tapes'' (2013, Dangerbird Records) – Vocals, Keys *''Alabama Tribute Compilation'' (2013, Thirty Tigers) – Pedal Steel, Vocals, Organ * Tia Madre, ''Makeout Mountain'' (2013) – Vocals *

Timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including Beam (structure), beams and plank (wood), planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as fini ...

, ''Sad and Scrawled'' (2010) – Piano, Album Art * Union Pulse, ''Angel on a wire'' (2007) – Vocals

References

External links

*
Page on bandcamp.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarrano, Thayer American folk singers American women singer-songwriters American women rock singers American session musicians American folk rock musicians Musicians from Athens, Georgia 21st-century American singers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Cracker (band) members 21st-century American women singers Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)