For years, Sara Filipova has been one of Vienna’s best-kept secrets. Her voice is strong, clear, and direct, capable of spanning the spectrum from whispered intimacy to full-throated acrobatics. Listening to her, it’s hard not to think of great R&B singers like Whitney Houston, Patti Labelle, and Mariah Carey, all of whom she counts among her early vocal influences – but there’s a lot more to her than that.

Sara grew up surrounded by music; she began piano lessons at the age of six, but first heard the calling at the age of 13. Offered the chance to sing at her school’s 40^th anniversary, she accepted and found herself, for the first time, alone on a stage in front of 400 people. She opened her mouth and music burst forth, astonishing audience and accompanist alike – and from that point on the way was clear. She began singing lessons and joined the worship team at her family’s church; her musical interests expanded rapidly to embrace (among others) singer-songwriters like Meshell Ndegeocello, Joni Mitchell, and Paul Simon. She studied at the Conservatory of the City of Vienna with jazz singer Univ. - Prof. Mag. Ines Reiger - Dominik and Robert Slivovsky of the Vienna folk/soul combo 5/8erl in Ehr’n and earned her spurs singing with a wide variety of artists on the Vienna scene, until – as she puts it – “I decided to face my doubts and fears and do my own thing.”

The fruit of that commitment can be heard on her new EP, Black And White Café. The five songs on the recording aren’t exactly R&B, jazz, folk, or any other single thing; Sara has succeeded in weaving the strands of her musical experience into a uniquely persuasive whole. Her ease and virtuosity are on full display, but the strength of her voice is tempered, modulated to suit the subject matter: meditations on the transience of life and the human condition. She accompanies herself, providing a muscular counterpoint to the impressionism of her lyrics; earthy, gospel-inflected chords alternate with unexpected forays into harmony drawn more from her training in jazz and classical piano.

The result is an intimate and moving portrait of a young woman, told in her own words. The tone is often melancholy – but through it all, whether she’s describing a dissolute bar scene worthy of Tom Waits or the final breakdown of communication in a failed romance, a thread of optimism as fresh as a mountain stream runs through the songs. This too shall pass, she seems to say; there’s always a way forward, a way out. Each of us keeps a book of longing: not to tally our regrets, but to remind ourselves of what we yet mean to do.

In the last year and a half Sara has been busy playing in places like Germany, Portugal, Bulgaria – where she introduced her EP in Bulgarian television (March 2019) – and at Chicago’s Theater at Wilson Abbey. She’s also played plenty of shows at home in Austria, including a live session for the Austrian radio station Ö1, part of its “Kuntsonntag” series. Sara is currently at work on her first full-length album.

(Written by Philip Yaeger)