Kelly Kirwan
“I suggest you find your high.”
The words float, evaporating into the ether in elegant spirals. Arima Ederra’s voice is softly enrapturing, a sedative that soaks into your skin, straightening those lines of worry and leaving you loose limbed. She softens the blow of life’s worries and hardships with a soulful croon, and in listening to her, we feel at ease even as emotions are laid out raw.
Her latest album, Temporary Fixes, was forged from a grief-rooted epiphany. Following the death of her father, Ederra was faced with how ephemeral our existence is; it’s our world’s defining trait. And yet, we feel the reverberations of loss, heartbreak, love, and ennui as they spread like ripples across the water’s surface into other aspects of our life. And there, Ederra found her answer and guiding principle: to follow those feelings, which outlast the physical constraints of being human, and nurture her spirit. She’s on a higher plane, and in her album’s opening and titular track, she suggests we all get there.
Temporary Fixes is, in a word, beautiful. Ederra’s voice is delicate, and her melodies are marked by a bustling, syncopated percussion. It’s rhythm and blues, with a tint of jazz and roots in Ethiopian music, which so often wafted through her home while growing up in Las Vegas. Her lyrics are vivid, often referring to beautiful (almost fantastical) landscapes, in which Ederra herself finds inspiration, noting that she’s been able to divine messages written for her in the skies above.
"Nomads Land" touches on this thematically, opening with an airy whir as if we were attuned to signals passing through space. It’s soon joined by a crinkling, metallic percussion, as Ederra’s satin vocals tell a story that feels like a fairy tale. "Over the rainbow, far away / He lies on a mountain, stares into space … looks the moon in her face / Exchanging the secrets that he once taught me.” Ederra later borrows a line from the John Denver classic "Leaving on a Jet Plane," as her dreamy and introspective song wonders repeatedly, “Where are you going? / And where have you been?” It’s filled with wonder and that muted ache that so often sets in when we miss someone.
Then there’s "Just To Feel U/Just For Fun," which unfolds with brassy tints in the background and a hypnotic, sashaying beat, as Ederra’s light trill masks the not-so-sweet sentiment: you’re more into me than I ever was into you. "My memories are not the same," she sings languidly, following with, "I asked your heart to come outside and play / But I fall in love at least once a day."
Arima Ederra’s ten-track album is magnetic. It’s rife with poetic lyrics that reflect the artist herself, whose interviews are peppered with awe-inspiring musings on life and how she perceives it. Temporary Fixes is a staple that won’t wear off anytime soon, so tune in and find your high.