Political unrest and protest have been a fertile inspiration for music for generations now. However, you don’t necessarily to hear that kind of music from a 15-year-old girl.

Sevi Ettinger is an American-born singer who is currently living in Shanghai. She was struck by stories and films she saw about Syrian refugees – how adults and particularly children could be set adrift, trying desperately to escape violence and discrimination, willing to leave their homes behind for a very unsure future where they were likely to be turned away.

Seeing and feeling for these desperate exiles, particularly in a time in history in which there are some particularly harsh attitudes towards migrants, led her to write the title track of this EP. “Why can’t we just be the people we are?” she asked musically. “Why can’t we just be the people we want to be?”

That is a particularly thorny question in the era of Trump and Brexit.

However, Ettinger – who is self-trained musically – turned it into a lovely anthem of inclusion, complete with beautiful instrumentation and a crystal-clear vocal turn by the young singer.

The acoustic-guitar driven “Live” mixes a sweet retro backbeat with interesting layering of vocals and offbeat instrumentation put together into an intoxicating whole by Grammy-winning producer Jeff Bova.

The complicated songcraft continues in the dance-oriented “Don’t Fall Behind” (complete with funky 1970s wah-wah guitar) and the sweetly personal love ballad “Eyes.”

"No matter your age, we all have a voice to be part of the solution, and not part of the problem," Ettinger says in the press release for the EP.

Salty Water promises a bright future for Ettinger – both as a singer/songwriter and as a human being.

Jay S.  Jacobs