Serafima and the Shakedowns

In 2022, Serafima started a new band as an excuse to hang out with her friends Sam and Joe. This trio, now dubbed Serafima and The Shakedowns, became a place where Serafima could build out and explore her songs about life as a young woman in modern America.

Serafima finds influence in the likes of Johnny and June Carter Cash, Kimya Dawson, Joni Mitchell, Lily Allen, Dan Reeder, and Cake – somewhere in there among the honest and the groovy. Her lyrics hit you in the heart and stick in your head – wry, time-twisting verses as deceptively complex as her protagonists and their experiences. She won’t lie to you, but she just might tell you a story … so keep up, folks, and let’s ride along.

If Serafima’s lyrics are so honest, they burn, The Shakedowns distribute the heat, electrifying classic elements from the Golden Age of Radio, honky tonk, and Russian folk. With drummer Jules Tennyson (Biblioteka) joining in 2023, and the arrival in 2025 of trumpet player Finn O’Hea, The Shakedowns rounded out to a fivesome, with founding guitarist Sam Burrows and bassist Joe McPhee, and Serafima on vocals and rhythm guitar. Onstage, they’re a party.