 "Photo: Photo by Caleb Miller/The Daily Texan")
In a bustling coffee shop in downtown Austin, a long-haired blonde sips her iced chai while her wavy-haired friend crunches on sea salt chips and Thai tea, both discussing what it meant to bare their souls to an audience with unabashed emotion.
These are The Reliques (pronounced relics), composed of Sarah Dossey and Sarah Monteen, two old souls offering their hearts through their music. Beneath their youthful, lithe exteriors lie jaded spirits crying out to be heard in an increasingly chaotic world.
These sirens of Texas folk make music spilling over with intimacy and real emotional gravitas — a result, they say, of their Christian faith.
“But at the same time, we wouldn’t want to be pigeonholed as a ‘Christian band,’” Monteen said. “We happen to be Christians, we are in a band and we write about our lives — and yes, that includes Christianity sometimes. Our goal is to not be super overt or preachy. We just want to be ourselves.”
Dossey said the reason the religious aspect of their music is often overlooked is because of their intimacy with their audiences.
“I think people appreciate us baring our souls,” she said. “I feel like at yesterday’s show, for example, people enjoyed our songwriting and someone being honest with them.
While the Sarahs are quick to voice their beliefs when asked, they maintain that their songs are neither overtly nor exclusively Christian — a formula that garners appeal from believers and nonbelievers alike. They affirmed their band name stemmed from a need to separate themselves from purveyors of inflexible contemporary music.
“We like to think of ourselves as grassroots,” Monteen said. “The Reliques could mean something old and antiquated, and I guess being in a folk band, we want to talk a lot about struggle, hardships, keeping your faith. We want to be real and raw and something unlike today.”
Dossey agreed with her bandmate and said that the name was also influenced by their Christian roots.
“The reason we wanted to go with the word ‘relics’ was because it has a special quality — relics are the remnant of something great,” Dossey said. “We want to be a representation of something great, too.”
After meeting a little more than eight months ago — Dossey was a freshman and Monteen a senior at UT — the two put together their solo projects after their friends suggested it.
“The first real memory I have of Sarah [Monteen] was when we were at a retreat and someone yelled, ‘Guitar girls! Play together!’” Dossey said, laughing and looking at Monteen for endorsement.
The two began playing each other’s songs in and around Austin afterward, accumulating local awards and critical acclaim on the strength of their debut EP Peacock Wood, which was released in March.
The Reliques’ sound is immediately recognizable: the lilting sound of Dossey’s mandolin over Monteen’s acoustic guitar, overlapping vocals reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac, the sparse arrangements chugging along trainlike and persistent. On Peacock Wood opener “Reconciled,” the two harmonize sweetly, layering their voices with Jewel-like fragility.
The following track, “Why Do You Love Me,” expresses remorse with optimism throughout the lyrics, asking “why do you even care?” with genuine shame. But the implicit repentance throughout Peacock Wood validates the two, making for a bittersweet listening experience.
“We’ve been listening to a lot of Dolly Parton lately,” Dossey said with a laugh when asked about The Reliques’ influences. “For me, I love great songwriting. I love Christian songwriters like Derek Webb, but I also like Conor Oberst, Ryan Adams, Fleetwood Mac.”
For now, the two plan to continue writing new songs in hopes of eventually releasing a full-length album at a national level, all while maintaining a close bond with their fan base, which is growing every day as they tour around the Hill Country.
“A part of who we are — I mean, our music is about deeper things, you know?” Monteen said. “I feel like music is a really cool, powerful thing. What would the purpose of playing music be if there wasn’t a real meaning behind it? We need to encourage people. I think it’d be pointless if we didn’t.”
Peacock Wood EP is available now at CDbaby.com/reliques and on iTunes.
The Reliques w/ Jeremy Riddle and Brenton Brown
Friday, 7 p.m.
Grace Covenant Church
