The Scarlet Furies

Opening were two other strong acts: Southern California’s own Scarlet Furies kicked off the evening with a creative mix of original Americana material and artful remakes (including a stark handling of “House of the Rising Sun”) that impressed the cheering audience. Singer Raleigh Holmes has a beautiful, emotive soprano that shined amid hushed moments (“Straits of Our Love,” “The Breaking”), uptempo rockers (“Better Off Dead”), even a rockabilly take on Peter, Paul & Mary’s “Had My Way.” - The Orange County Register

There’s been a welcome crop of female singer-songwriters blossoming across the musical landscape in recent years, but the surplus of waifish, affectless voices is wearying. It is as if a generation of breathy Barbies all studied with the same vocal coach, yielding thin, surface-pretty sopranos that convey little sense of life experienced beyond their romantic fantasies. The gritty exception is Adele, whose warts-and-all soul is making the kind of generational impact sufficient to position her as an influential artist.

While her dusky alto is neither as worldly nor as raw as Adele’s, Scarlet Furies vocalist Raleigh Holmes’ timbre likewise possesses old-school character — subdued but knowing beyond her twentysomething years. The Scarlet Furies is anchored by her dad, 12-string guitarist/ukulele player Robert Holmes. He called on old bandmates from high school in Whittier when organizing the rootsy ensemble, initially pulled together as a onetime showcase for Raleigh’s singing and writing, which hark back to folk-rock artists of the 1960s and ’70s with instrumentation — six- and 12-string guitars, standup bass, Cajon, mandolin — that complements Raleigh’s expressive tones.
Little detracts from that vocal focal point. Raleigh sometimes strums an autoharp, but onstage she primarily stations herself behind the microphone, swaying with the feeling she channels into singing. Between songs, she banters comfortably with audiences, but is clearly most comfortable when connecting with the drama in her lyrics, like an actress embodying characters. She stretches out with a dreamy reading of Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” and the lightly swinging jazz of “P.S. I Love You,” but the bulk of Scarlet Furies material is folk-rock with a vaguely Celtic feel. That sound has made them an agreeable choice for festivals, where the Furies have opened for the likes of Leon Russell and the Subdudes, and fans of Shakespeare and murder ballads have responded to the emotional stories sketched out in songs like “Bluegrass Hamlet” and “Young Goodman Brown” (“The chorus sounded trumpets and the blaze it peeled the color from the sky/ And the good beheld the wicked and their faces blurred together in the light/ I cried out against the roaring and the silence it hushed into a sigh”). The band may only be a steppingstone, but Raleigh Holmes is a voice worth noting.
- The Pasadena Weekly

There is a gentleness and quiet beauty to The Scarlet Furies recent release, ‘Dark Clad Company’. The album title, like the band’s moniker, shine a light towards the red and black goth nature and texture that informs much of their subject matter on the E.P. Raleigh Holmes vocals whisper promises (“All or Nothing”) and say goodbye (“Gone Tomorrow”) with a sweetness that leave a smile and a glass half full memory. Lyrics and story lines, like on “Young Goodman Brown”, lend an age to the songs. The dust of time works well with the instrumentation and The Scarlet Furies natural ability to add freshness. They reincarnate tradition and the resulting sound never shows age. They take a modern classic track by Nirvana (“Heart Shaped Box”) and replace the grunge of Seattle with forest freshness more in line with the folk side of Americana.
The Scarlet Furies have ties that span decades though the incarnation of the band is way more current. The five male players in the band went to high school together in the 1970’s. They played for about five years in their hometown of Whittier California. Time passed. One of the high school/band alumni, Robert Holmes was asked by his twenty year old daughter, Raleigh, to help put together a band that could back her up in an L.A. showcase. The former band members were brought back together. Though the non-blood band members blame Robert for duping them by the promise of a one off gig, none can deny the magic they have created.

- The Alternate Root