Swiss singer-songwriter Andrea Schmider is back with her beautiful 5 track EP, "Potpourri," a collection of songs that range from the joyful to the sorrowful to the hopeful. Dropped this May and championed by Decent Music PR, Potpourri is exactly as heady and complex as its title implies. It's a series of scented stops along the paths of joy, longing, change, and quiet contemplation, there and back and there again. Clocking in at just under 18 minutes, the EP doesn't waste a beat.
Mixing folk-pop textures with rich string arrangements and vivid storytelling, Schmider creates a world that is intimate while bordering on universal. "Writing helps me make sense of life," Schmider says, "and life never ceases to provide new inspiration. That guiding truth pulsates throughout the Disclosure-produced track as if she's extending a hand to listeners, guiding them through life's unpredictable currents. "Set the Sails" emerges as a tender message to letting go and moving on, the kind of song that feels just like a deep breath after a storm.
"Circles," another standout, envelops themes of repetition, growth, emotional depletion, and doubt in warm vocals and mysterious melodies, resulting in a song that plays on long after its final note sounded. The genius of "Potpourri" is its emotional intelligence. There's humor installed between heartbreak, healing braided into the sadness. Schmider sings about life and allows us to feel in kind. "Potpourri" is an introverted soul revolution. Whether you're mending, seeking, or just trying to find your way back to a part of yourself, Schmider's music is a tender mirror and a soft place to land.
