Serpentine Arborvitae " The First Coil " 

" The First Coil has just arrived! I have been listening meditatingly. What a gutsy, gorgeous work, earthy and transcendant at once. Many times I've gotten goose bumps listening! I love that The First Coil is "not all pretty" (as Maeve remarks) "beauty never is." 

Serpentine Arborvitae by Bill Murphy

" From deep within New York’s downtown jazz enclaves, singer/ songwriter Serpentine Arborvitae first electrified listener’s with her dynamic gift of improvisational voice. After studying and performing with jazz legend Ornette Coleman, Serpentine turned from the avant-garde to cultivate her own musical forms. Endlessly suggestive and inventive, sensual and energetic, Serpentine breathes with a musical verve that evokes a fiery lust for freedom we may have forgotten we have."

Serpentine Arborvitae ~ “ Heaven’s Secret Garden “

"Luminous! Serpentine's soul blows musical kisses to her enraptured audience.Her Goddess-like voice, sacred dance movements and mesmerizing stage presence combine with her spiritually empowering lyrics to uplift her listeners into Heaven's Secret Garden. Her musical style is an enchanting bridge between East & West, Ancient & Modern - spanning Mediterranean, Vedic, and Celtic sacred traditions.

Do your Self a big favor: go hear this lady sing."

HUMAN ANGEL CONCERT  ~  THE UNITED RESEARCH LIGHT CENTER

" An amazing performance last night!... whatever energies have allowed its magic to work within you has truly arrived inside your skin & at a time when we need your music, your passion & your truth. Rarely do I feel performers climb inside the song & become the song. You have done that & in a genuine & authentic way. From the first song to the last, I felt transported & lifted to a higher place within myself. And watching you, Jonn & River blend with one another so easily & with such passion was inspirational for all of us. Thank you so much for this astounding performance.Thank you for your vision & your willingness to be of service for the greater good. And thank you for doing this performance first at the Light Center, where higher, transforming frequencies are released into other dimensions, knowingly & unknowingly by many. I can still feel the vibrations."

SERPENTINE ARBORVITAE  " TEMPLE OF THE HEART " CD

Recorded in Tel Aviv, Israel

"This is one of those albums that supercedes the usual banal chatter. With a sound that binds traditional instrumentation with digital orchestrations and religious persuasion with futurist manifest. Serpentine's " Temple Of The Heart " is a genuine union of historical and cutting edge elements. In a cosmic swirl of profound new age Enya like arrangements and conventional Middle-Eastern motifs, Serpentine's vocal passages are a passionate declaration of love and devotion to the secular and sometimes sacrilegious.With the silken tones similiar to Ofra Haza, Serpentine constructs a multi-blossomed bouquet of synthesizers and traditional hand percussion, that evokes a tribal, mystical ambience.From there her lyrics explore the sensual and surreal. Serpentine will appeal to broad-minded listeners, that enjoy both Paula Cole and Dead Can Dance with this poppish global feast. Exceptional production and visionary sound."

" Serpentine goes where few others dare.. into the depths of rage, dark sexuality and courageous truth-telling, all wrapped in the tasty grove that is her music. I got this cd several years ago and it literally changed my life.. the power rolls off of it in waves; it is not for the faint of heart. She reminds all women that we are, indeed, the embodiment of the Mother, in dark and light."

SERPENTINE  ARBORVITAE " THE FIRST COIL " 

New York City neo-pagan singer/performance artist delivers this vital, INTENSE, evocative, dark, witchy, hard to review but excellent album of gothic, ritual, tribal, synthesizer, GODDESS rock ambience. Her incredible soaring voice is also capable of the most animalistic gutteral sounds and bone chilling wails. The outstanding lyrics are striking and powerful, exploring radical feminist themes in ways both compelling and unsettling. The Burning Times sings to those dark times of the holocaust of the witches of Europe and to modern women’s internalized oppression and subjection. "To Die Is Ecstacy " is a trance dance sung in tongues a la her work on Gabrielle Roth’s label.

"Lilith " is a truly disturbing song invoking the hissing cackling, screeching, otherworldly calls of the succubus that I never the less enjoyed. To quote one reviewer in N.Y. “ her lyrics reveal the scars of womanhood “. A song that stands out lyrically is the autobiographical Belonging To No One that explores her evolutional reclaiming of her sexual being, evoking the true meaning of virgin as a un possessed person. An outstanding work, but not easy to listen to, beware!!

SERPENTINE ARBORVITAE " TEMPLE OF THE HEART " CD 

" I have listened to "TEMPLE OF THE HEART " several times. I am blown away. I love your other work, but till now, I guess I had heard your songs as solitary creations. Sure, each of the songs on TOTH can easily stand on their own as wonderful works of art, but when listened to from the beginning to the end, particularlty in the midst of a horrific thunderstorm on I-10 in Louisana, it makes the hairs stand on end. In short, this album is like a mind-altering drug. You might consider putting an advisory sticker on it: " Warning--highly addictive! " You're probably sick of everyone heaping praise on you, but I've got to be honest. The only problem with your music is that I don't have 20 or 30 CDs to listen to. Simply incredible. On this end, I'm going tokeep on spreading the message till your name and music are household words." 

SERPENTINE ARBORVITAE  "DREAM WITH ME " CD

" Sublime beauty, grace and wisdom saturate this singer's visionary self produced art. Serpentine casts a spell with ambient pop exotic atmospheres both intimate and uplifting. Intoxicated by the teaching and writings of Ernest Holmes Serpentine's voice effortlessly modulates the full spectrum of human emotions through her songs." DREAM WITH ME " awakens us to our human magnificence. Affirming the powers we possess to heal, as well as exposing the deep, sometimes turbulent emotions that arise as part of that awakening."

HUMAN ANGEL CONCERT  ~  THE UNITED RESEARCH LIGHT CENTER

 Serpentine, that was just a completely utterly wonderful and stunning evening last night. The three of us just loved and adored it. It fed me still when I woke up this morning. Say "yes" to all the opportunities to share more of what happened last night with the wide wider widest world(s)...."

SERPENTINE ARBORVITAE  “ THE FIRST COIL“ 

"Once every great while, even the primary colors like “ folk, rock, blues, jazz,“ can only fade when trying to categorize a vividly personal vision. Using her voice and a synthesizer, with guitar and percussion added, Serpentine Arborvitae could compose a soundtrack to David Lynch’s next film, only I think the movie should be about her. More than any hard macho-rock you can think of “The First Coil” shatters convention and routine, but in its place raises frameworks that allow the primal spirits to enter our world. Its no surprise the ten tracks are eccentric, daring and erotic. Any good musician reaches for some common truth, but Serpentine is after the ultimate passion that channels spiritual totality through the mortal individual. Though this motif dominates her music, Serpentine has many moods and styles at her disposal; for example, the polychordal vocal patterns familiar to Bulgaria and Asia Minor. One recurring vocalization is a long keening howl that could be the pain of childbirth, and of being born simultaneously. These are ancient amoral voices that guide our world - and Serpentine can hear them. This time categories can wait! " 

SERPENTINE ARBORVITAE  “ ROCK THE GODDESS “ CD

‘ Serpentine does it again! This second album reveals a refinement of style and sound that her first raw and powerful album opened up, with more world beat, middle eastern flair. AS always, she does not concern herself with merely sounding pleasing to the ear. Her music is designed to stir up, to confront, to empower, to awaken, to invoke, to be dark and powerful. Some of her pieces such as “ Heru-Ra-Ha” are pure invocations, complete with her trademark hisses, groans and wild high howls. The sounds she makes are evocative and compelling and move one into an altered state. Other instrumentation includes her simple and effective synthesizer backgrounds. ”Rock the Goddess” takes the classic chant “ We all come from the Goddess “ and takes off into a deep trance rock groove. It must be said that the drumming, funky bass, dark tasteful, polyrhythmic synth and lead guitar work are all outstanding, pulsing and flowing to frame her moving invocations.. With her ethereal voice and powerful music, I can’t help but thinking of her as Enya on a broomstick! This magnificent album may disturb some, be forewarned, but listen if you dare...This is another treasure from the new rock high priestess.”