ESS SEE: A SINGER-SONGWRITER GROWS IN BROOKLYN
Arkansas native Sarah Cobb, known professionally as ESS SEE, tells Brooklyn Roads that, “The first music I can remember truly loving was on our local oldies station.” She especially loved Motown, the Beach Boys and the Beatles, and, “My Granny and I bonded over her love of Elvis Presley.” There was also country music in the mix, the electro-pop singer/songwriter tells us: “A few family members played bluegrass, folk and southern gospel.”
In the eighth grade, courtesy of MTV, Cobb discovered Nirvana, Radiohead, Fiona Apple, the Cranberries and No Doubt. By college, Peaches, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Le Tigre, Hot Chip and Metric began to influence her songwriting.
A Relaxing Slouch / photo by Jonathan Frey
“I deeply believe in the power of lyrics and I love songs that trigger familiar feelings across a gamut of backgrounds,” she says. “I write what I feel and let it out for people to hear,” she tells us.
On A City Street / photo by Austin Schmitt
Not surprisingly, “All the women I look up to most are musicians,” she tells Brooklyn Roads. These include a trio of Brooklyn artists – Carole King (“I’ve always adored her!”), St. Vincent and the late Sharon Jones – as well as the likes of Shirley Manson (Garbage), Emily Haines (Metric) and Amelia Meath (Sylvan Esso). These women, she notes, all got better as they aged. “Now, I just have to keep at it and do my best to follow their lead.”
Although she hails from Arkansas, “Brooklyn is where I really grew up,” Cobb says. It was in our fair borough where, “The exposure to different people, lifestyles, and cultures … made me more open, empathetic and compassionate. It’s allowed me to imagine various points of view in my songwriting. I’ve played with hip-hop, folk, rock and jazz artists who enlightened and stretched me way beyond my comfort zone and encouraged me to find my own voice.”
She describes Brooklyn as “an endless well of opportunities to grow as an artist – and there’s always more to learn. That’s a huge reason why I stay.”
Her favorite Brooklyn venue? “I love C’mon Everybody. I played my first ESS SEE show there. They have such a great sense of community and are so supportive of artists.” Meanwhile, she adds, “There have been so many new venues popping up and so much new music coming out of Brooklyn that it’s hard to keep up with – and that’s really encouraging and motivating to me.”
Album Cover / photo by Jonathan Frey
New Album: “Waiting for the Sky to Fall”
ESS SEE considers herself first and foremost a songwriter, so Brooklyn Roads chose to focus on the well-crafted lyrics of her new electro-pop album, which is slated for an August 23 release. It’s worth noting that neither the album nor its the namesake track are as fatalistic as the title, Waiting for the Sky to Fall, might imply. Typical of several of the album’s 11 songs, “Survive” is about self discovery and empowerment: “cash out / make change / only you can save yourself.”
Track Listing /photo by Jonathan Frey
On the album’s first single, “Slip Slide,” ESS SEE shrugs, “I’m living broken, got no quick fixes,” but soon after avows, “I won’t slide back again … slip through the now instead.” Similarly, “No. 1” wavers between pleading (“tell me I’m your number one”) and assertiveness (“I demand a guarantee”). The lilting “it’s all right” attitude of “Dance in the Dark” makes for an interesting contrast with the similarly titled but more hard-driving Springsteen song.
ESS SEE, whose self-deprecating assessment of own singing voice doesn’t do her justice, tells Brooklyn Roads she would most love to hear Dolly Parton cover one of her songs. We can easily imagine Ms. Parton putting a country twang on “Show You Out Loud” or even “Power of a Woman.”