Jenny Woolworth’s Women in Punk Blog

Music for One is Sherry Ostapovitch, a Canadian avant-garde guitarist living and working in London. Since her debut EP in 2001, Sherry has been bending and coaxing beautiful sounds wrestled from a guitar, effects, and bits from the hardware store. Her latest full length album, The Red Thumb, released at the end of 2008 features twelve songs on resonator guitar. The effect is sublime, intricate and beautiful. In these cold winter months Music for One is your breath that you see on a cold day. The Red Thumb and other recordings are available to preview and purchase on Sherry’s website. Download “The Wind From the Irish Sea” below and enjoy yourself falling in.
I caught up with Sherry over a cup of Roiboos Eary Grey in a crooked South London house and here is what she told me.

JW: What is one of your favorite sounds and what does it mean to you?
SO: I really like the sound of crickets. They remind me of Canada in the summertime and a trip I took as a child to the Swiss alps with my family. Living in dense urban areas makes you yearn for the wilds some.

JW: Tell me about one of your most cherished records and why it is so important to you.
SO: I love them all… so it’s hard to pick just one.  I really love Oval’s “Systemisch.” I have it on mint/light green coloured see-thru vinyl and it almost sounds how it looks.  To me, it’s deeply hypnotic, malfunctioning digital music that has an amazing organic quality to it. The sound of CDs skipping never sounded so beautiful.

JW: Who is a woman that has inspired you in your life, musically or otherwise?
SO: Every woman past and present who struggles or has struggled against the odds to gain her equality, freedom, dignity and sense of self in a world that has consistently denied it.

Download: Music for One - The Wind From the Irish Sea