sparrow

Photos courtesy of Dana Sparrow.

For Long Beach singer-songwriter Dana Sparrow, the procession of the seasons is an invitation to turn inward.

For each upcoming season, she will be releasing an EP, culminating in the debut of her first full-length album later this year, called Alchemy & Poetry. She kicked off the yearlong project this past September with her Roots EP, a celestial four-track journey through the fall season “as if [she]’s trying to find shelter for winter.” With Sparrow on keys and harmonium, the EP features fellow Long Beach musician Alanah Ntzouras on clarinet and flute.

“I started the EP release with autumn because autumn is my favorite season,” said Sparrow, who is also known by her birth name Dana Benedict. “It represents, death, hibernation and renewal … the leaves are falling, preparing the tree for a winter hibernation, but there is still life in the roots of the trees.”

Winter is now here, and Sparrow is marking the season with Aether, a new batch of songs set for release on Jan. 10. Sparrow sings and plays both the piano and harmonium, accompanied by local violinist Laura Merryfield. Aether is “more icy and cold,” threaded by folklore-inspired stories of gypsy ladies, self-fulfilling prophesies and “Mary Shelley, if she were to create her own monster for her own pleasure,” Sparrow said.

The release of Aether, recorded at AEA in Pasadena, will be followed by a full-length music video of her song “Wishing Well.”

aether

“My music is very visual, so I’ve been releasing photos and videos to go along with the music,” she added.

This yearlong project marks the first time Sparrow is officially releasing her own material. The UCI grad grew up dancing and actively participating in community theater and musicals. In 2000, she embarked on a seven-month nationwide tour as Annie in the musical Annie. The self-taught pianist began writing songs in high school, but she kept them to herself.

“I felt something completely different and fulfilling about songwriting that I had never felt from acting and singing in musical theater,” Sparrow said.

In 2011, armed with a degree in theater, Sparrow moved to Long Beach and got involved at the Long Beach Playhouse and Post Mortem Movement Theater. Naturally she became immersed into the music community, performing in other Long Beach-based music projects, including Panther Heart and mystical vaudeville group SEX MONEY POWER. She also performs every Halloween season at The Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor.

After years of putting her solo project on the back burner, Sparrow now feels like her artistry and songwriting is at its height. This seasonal project is the “first big representation of Dana Sparrow,” she said.

“Sparrows are little plump birds that are often depicted in literature as omens of either great luck in love or bad omens of death and soul capturing,” Sparrow said. “Sweet innocent looking birds with a mischievous side, just like me.”

Aether EP will be available Jan. 10 at danasparrow.bandcamp.com. Sparrow will be playing with a full band at The Mint in Los Angeles on February 9 to mark the release of Roots and Aether.