Album Review: Sui Zhen - Two Seas

Sui Zhen (the alias for Melbourne singer-songwriter Becky Freeman) specialises in the sort of wide-eyed twee indie-folk that should automatically appeal to fans of The Lucksmiths, Darren Hanlon and Isobel Campbell. She has been performing around Australia and worldwide for nearly a decade, supporting international artists like Kimya Dawson and CocoRosie, but Two Seas is her first full-length album, and her first release since a self-titled EP in 2007.

It's easy to see why she has been taking her time, as there's not a sound out of place in these ten meticulously crafted folk-pop songs. Freeman's sweet, almost childlike voice is accompanied by sparse arrangements of plucked acoustic guitar and percussion, with sparing use of clarinet, cello and other instruments adding texture. She sets herself apart from the average whimsical indie-folk singer-songwriter with some interestingly subtle lyrics. On Imagined Ships she fantasises about selling her belongings and leaving her life behind for “two years at least“, while Tuesday Sometimes expresses ambivalence and frustration about a distant, moody lover, concluding poignantly “When I am with you/We are happy sometimes“. While her delicate vocals occasionally hint at a deeper sadness, for the most part the mood remains innocently hopeful.

Listen to the entire 37 minutes of Two Seas from start to finish and you might just be in danger of overdosing on all the sweetness, like drinking an entire glass of strawberry syrup, but taken one or two tracks at a time it's utterly charming.