New Face

Sounds From Friday Afternoon

Obession with a Word

Influenced by artists like The Pentangle, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Nick Drake, Xavier fuses traditional melodic styles with forward-thinking and unconventional forms. His songwriting spins stories of reflections, self-growth, and the contemplations of life utilizing on the discordant chords of jazz, traditional folk and alternative rock.

"Xavier was the main songwriter in the New Haven band Kindred Queer. He often sings songs backed by his carefully picked acoustic guitar playing. The early recordings of Devendra Banhart come to mind. This is quiet and gentle music that connects back to the British folk revival, to artists like Bert Jansch, and to other introspective troubadours. New Haven’s own Kath Bloom is a possible point of connection as well--whom he has shared the stage with. Along with opening for Hawktail, Plants and Animals, and Waxahatchee.

Serrano has been making music along the lines of a self-exploratory journal, sometimes seemingly impromptu, picking up his guitar and giving voice to his thoughts. It’s admirably raw and off-the-cuff, epistemological folk. There’s a sketch-like quality to his recent solo releases, but, even so, they gesture toward a sense of wonder at the world, one’s connection to others, grappling with selfhood, the reliability of our own emotions. The wonder isn’t always of the warm and rosy kind, but it’s wonder all the same."

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