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Praise for Washingtons:

NPR's All Songs Considered: Second Stage

Love and Mathematics

Common Folk Meadow

AmericanaUK

Dedicated Ears

Call It Folk

WRUV

Portland Phoenix

Record Dept.

Adios Anticipado

 

Live Reviews:

"Jerusha sings and plays cello and Jeremy is on guitar, accordion and also sings. Both were in brown bird, another feather in the Peapod Recordings hat, and South China started as an off-shoot of that band. South China seems to be their primary focus as of late and that suits me just fine, as both incarnations are musical bliss to my ears.

The music is soothing yet labyrinthine (thanks, Roget, for that 10-cent word!). Jerusha's vocals float down to earth on the wings of cello and guitar.

This is the kind of music that is best served by candlelight when you have too much on your mind and need to be transported out of your own head and into the Robinsons' world of halcyon sounds. The music beckons as if to say, "give me your hand, give me your trust."

Portland Press Herald
By Aimsela L.Ponti

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"South China followed up with a serene array of songs, combining sounds of electric guitar, bass, cello, accordion and piano.

Jerusha Robinson has a wonderful syncopation in all of their songs, and Jeremy Robinson joined in a few times for a great blend of male and female vocals.

I felt chills down my spine when they played "Partridge In A Pear Tree," a beautiful, melancholic piece on piano and guitar with Jerusha singing gently over. "Sun Sets On Washington Avenue" was one of the other peaks of the show; the song eminently demonstrated the complex dynamics Jerusha and Jeremy use to make such elegant music. "

www.usmfreepress.org
by Dylan Martin

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BAND: South China

ALBUM: Self-titled. Six songs including: 1)Colorado 2)Anais 3)Intermission 4)Painting 5)Spoke 6) Monkeycat vs.Rattooth Runs: 25 min 13 sec

SOUND: Hushed female vocals on simple, layered guitar lines with occasional FX trickling in and out of the mix.

CARDS ON THE TABLE: I like the stuff this band is made of. They bring me memories of other fond works by My Bloody Valentine, Mazzy Star, and the Velvet Underground. I was also charmed by the "cunnin" inner-sleeve snap shot of Jerusha and Jeremy Robinsin brushing their teeth together. My more critical reactions may very well be the a byproduct of the fact that I listened to this album while missing my out-of-state friends and feeling the early onset of the Long Maine Winter.

MY TAKE: Co-member, Jeremy Robinson told me that the duo's only point of anxiety was whether there's really a need for yet another band out there. Like their recent live audiences, I agree that there is. The two seem to

focus heavily on making music that is unique and true. (The six songs on this disk came from over a year of working and experimenting together trying to find their sound.) The word I would use to describe the music is "elusive" and for me, it works to the disk's advantage and disadvantage.

We set off with "Colorado" (the song that marks the duo's sound really coming together, Jeremy tells me) which starts with a long high-pitched hum of reverb and goes into a light-blue back-and-forth plucking of electric guitar while another guitar changes the chords through a few drawn-out choices of notes. Jerusha's murmered vocals nestle in there very cosily with the group's hide 'n' seek lyrics ("if the sun shines brighter in your sky/ you might see us once in a while") and then she drifts up and out, leaving you with the guitar for a moment before she glides back. Gave me chills. I also enjoyed "Anais" which starts like one song then bleeds into a couple more before dissolving into the machine pulse of "Intermission." The song reminds me of the slippery, seamless transformations that I've heard by Neutral Milk Hotel.

As the song cycle enters into its last half, the spareness and unpredictability begin to wear on me and become my worst enemies. Without any of the solid ground under the songs to keep me up, my senses begin to get hazy and I begin to spook. The feel of the disk reminds me most of the hushed menace of Velvet Underground's third album but that work still keeps me going because it essentially adheres to a pop-song format while this one seems content to drift. I tried it as ambient back-drop but the vocals and harmonies kept pulling me into a state of claustrophobic limbo. So I go back to "Colorado" which, while loose, still hooks me with a folksong-like lyric pattern and a beautiful cool melody. I wanted to take the journey with these folks but I wanted more road signs and landmarks along the way, assuring me I was going to successfully make it back home.

Face Magazine
by Matt Haynes