- Words Darcy Culverhouse
Serbian-born, Canadian-based folk artist Jelena Ciric channels Iceland’s cold winter months in her new single ‘Inside Weather’.
The search for a sense of belonging is one that many of us look high and low for. Sometimes, music can serve as a beacon on this journey. For artist, Jelena Ciric, her melodies act as a compass, as she navigates through the ever-shifting currents of her sense of home and identity.
Being compared to the likes of Joni Mitchell and Laura Marling, Ciric beckons listeners into her musical sanctuaries, where eloquent lyricism often poses more questions than they answer. In her latest release, ‘Inside Weather’, we embark on a journey through a raw emotional landscape, as Ciric reflects on her inaugural winter in Iceland— a period fraught with external and mental challenges.
Taken from her forthcoming EP, ‘Inside Weather’ is a song that sends shivers down your spine. It feels like a symphony, with Ciric’s ethereal, high-pitched vocals and poignant lyrics standing front and centre, enveloped by layers of strings and accordion. The piano is played at a slow tempo, leaving the listener captivated as the collective instruments come together in harmony. Despite unravelling feelings of distance and confusion, there is raw beauty within the track. Even amidst the cold, harsh Icelandic winter, the country’s innate beauty remains undiminished.
It comes as no surprise that the folk sensation secured Folk Album of the Year at the 2021 Icelandic Music Awards for her debut EP, ‘Shelters One’. Her compositions consistently tap into the wealth of folk traditions from the Balkans and the songwriting legacy of North America. Effortlessly melding influences into her vast musical adventures across the globe, she is forging a distinctive and promising musical trajectory that firmly establishes her as a key artist to watch for the future.
Ciric describes the track as “A melancholy exploration of inner connections rather than outward ones. I wrote Inside Weather during the first winter I lived in Iceland. The darkness coupled with trying to put down roots in a new place – it was a challenging time: dark and stormy both outside and in my head.”