Every pop era has its defining female pianist: Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, Amanda Palmer.
For 2016, it’s 25-year-old Sarah Walk – an extraordinary new talent whose music is as confessional as it is gut-wrenching and swathed in emotion.
The rising Minneapolis artist is releasing her moving new single ‘Wake Me Up’ via One Little Indian. A brutally honest tale of addiction that, in Sarah’s words: “…shows the sweetness and temptation of something or someone and also that sense of urgency & panic to get out and escape; to feel trapped by someone’s influence and power over you.
“The song tries to capture that feeling as a nightmare and the desperation to wake up from it. It’s one of the most haunting and visual songs on the record.”
Signed to One Little Indian in 2014, Sarah emerged with a storm in her fingers and a fiery yearning in her heart. The songwriter deals in big songs with soaring melodies – the perfect foil to her intimate lyrics exploring the eternal themes of heartbreak and loss, delivered in her distinct androgynous voice, reminiscent of Leslie Feist or Joni Mitchell.
Having toured with Laura Mvula and appeared at Dot-to-Dot Festival – showcasing her songs to the public for the very first time – 2016 has already proved a busy year for Sarah Walk. Those audiences will have had the privilege of hearing the incendiary interplay between Sarah and her band – a key part of her creative process – that breathes life into her storming crescendos and tender devotionals.
A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Sarah grew up in Minneapolis but has spent much of the last year living between Los Angeles and West London, working on her debut album with Steve Brown (Rumer’s Seasons of My Soul, Laura Mvula’s Sing to the Moon).
“I didn’t like that the weather was the same every single day in LA: always sunny and comfortable,” notes Sarah. “That’s probably the artist in me, but I like waking up and not knowing what the weather will be…”
Last month, when Sarah released her debut single, ‘Keep On Dreaming’, I caught had a Skype chat with the singer to talk about her work, the first record she bought, and whether she would prefer to have a night out with Boy George or Ellen DeGeneres…
