This is a review of "Untitled" recorded by Staerimto. The review was written by James Burkitt in 2008.

Staerimto can be described as lush, poignant, quirky folk. In this DIY solo effort lead by John Perry there are moments of brilliance and also emptiness. Everything I found is much better for a second listen. This is an album to definitely kick back to and relax. I can imagine falling asleep to these songs, but I don’t say that in a bad way!

The first track’s strange electric guitar drone is the only part that doesn’t follow this drowsy trend. Most of the music is oriented around acoustic guitar and vocals. The rest of the mix being filled out by John’s multi-talented musician buddies. I liked the accordion especially.

The whole thing has a very intimate feel to it, right down to the buzz of background noise to lush layers of backing vocals. A few of the songs have a strong minimalist approach; with repetitive guitar riffs and an inspired delay ridden round of the lyrics “Your tree is bellowing in the wind”.

One bad point is that the production is obviously “bedroom quality”. Everything sounds a tad muffled. It is sometimes quite hard to hear the vocals and this is a shame as the lyrics often play a huge part. I am pretty sure they are not always perfectly in tune too but what carries this album through is its spirit of character.

I also think that Staerimto would be better experienced live.