Mariee Sioux 'Faces in the Rocks' album

The tale of Mariee Sioux began as delicately and spiritually as her captivating song, as a small ember introduced to the universe that soon grew into a flame of hope and illumination. Her dazzling debut album, Faces in the Rocks, weaves together the poetic interpretations of the universe’s deep truths and interconnectedness that have intrigued her since childhood. Each spin invites listeners to be the cast in Mariee’s entrancing tale with a journey ahead that is only beginning.

The stage was set in her hometown of Nevada City, CA, a historically creative community in which artists have flourished over the ages, where Mariee intertwined the vivid verse she had been writing as a child with the life lessons she has learned as an adult for this powerful record. Her roots had been planted deep in music through the love of her mandolin-playing father, but it was not until Mariee ventured a life-changing trip to Patagonia at the age of 17 that she began to play an instrument herself. She soon perfected the spry, delicate finger picking guitar technique featured on Faces in the Rocks, a faultless accompaniment to her strong yet sweetly cooing vocals, and toured internationally with her adoring compatriots Brightblack Morning Light.

Featuring Grammy-nominee Gentle Thunder’s enchanting sound on a redwood-carved Native American flute as well as her own father Gary Sobonya on mandolin, Mariee recorded Faces in May 2007 with a troupe of Nevada City’s talented musicians. Recorded with the intent of aligning the magnificence of the human voice with the universe’s creative energy, each song is a stirring exploration of life. Her tales range from the profundity of friendship on the single “Friendboats” to the yearning of self-understanding on “Bundles,” each laced with fabled images and poignant verse. “Two Tongues at One Time,” recently released on a rare 7” vinyl, is a sonnet-filled homage to the ancestors who traversed the wild lands of America hundreds of years ago, reminding listeners of our vital ties to our past.

Continuing the folk tradition of songwriting greats such as Joni Mitchell, Kate Wolf, and Nick Drake, Faces glorifies an appreciation of the working spirit and the oneness of nature that remains timeless.

press quotes
Discover a new folk singer in Mariee Sioux. The daughter of well-known bluegrass musician Gary Sobonya, Sioux sings with a soft, haunting voice-Joni Mitchell-style. On Faces in the Rocks her Native American-influenced songcraft references everything from forest life to ancestral ghosts. - Parade Magazine

Faces in the Rocks features eight songs that meld together the best of the folk-pop tradition with a contemporary vibe, tempered with traditional American Indian instruments and spirituality. The overall effect is that of a stripped-down, less self-conscious version of the Indigo Girls, if Buffy Sainte-Marie was the vocalist.
- Sacramento News and Review

Combining the artful subtlety of Marissa Nadler, the idiosyncratic vocal flourishes of Joanna Newsom and the worldly flair of Devendra Banhart, Sioux is poised to join today’s top tier of freak-folk royalty. - Spin.com

Nevada City-based songwriter Mariee Sioux spits piney rhymes over oaken-tuned acoustic plucking. Her twilight narratives detail encounters with ghosts, myriad woodland creatures, and her mom. But with a voice that bends around the branches with more flexibility than her fellow folk-nymphs, you couldn't pick a better guide for your night-hike. - SF Weekly

What can I say? A beautiful voice of nature, singing about nature, in nature. Contentment and beauty. Forest-folk. - Arthur Magazine

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Mariee Sioux - Faces in the Rocks