Amy Blaschke — Opaline (October 9th, 2015) |
Amy Blaschke — Opaline (October 9th, 2015)♦
Location: Seattle, WA ~ Lost Angeles, CA
Album release: October 9th, 2015
Record Label: Bird on a Lyre Records
Format: CD, VINYL
Duration: 38:12
Tracks:
01. Running into the Fire 3:32
02. Opaline 3:51
03. Come See About Loving Me 3:12
04. Through to Blue 2:57
05. Walking with the Rise 2:40
06. My Own Only 3:01
07. All of One Love 5:11
08. Shiver Wary 2:41
09. The Line 4:30
10. Just Roses 3:23
11. Above All Oceans 3:14
Notes:
♦ To say that Amy Blaschke’s songwriting is ambitious would be an understatement.
♦ A Seattle born singer/songwriter based in Lost Angeles, Blaschke has been releasing her brand of understated and soulful songs since 1999. For her most recent effort, Blaschke collected 28 original songs, 11 of which would become OPALINE.
♦ OPALINE brings Amy Blaschke’s music to vinyl LP for the first time. A limited run of 300 black vinyl includes: a full insert with Blaschke’s insightful lyrics and a free digital download of the entire album.
CREDITS:
♦ Brian Whelan (vocals, guitar, bass, keys),
♦ Rob Douglas (bass),
♦ Lee Pardini (bass),
♦ Mitch Marine (drums),
♦ Joachim Cooder (drums),
♦ Brendan Buckley (drums),
♦ Jebin Bruni (keys)
♦ Eric Heywood (pedal steel).
♦ Blaschke’s signature guitar work is featured on every track with exception to “Just Roses,” a haunting number that features Blaschke’s ethereal vocal range and ability to maintain live energy in the studio. “When the moment is captured you can’t beat that,” says Blaschke.
REVIEW
Jonathan Aird, Friday, 27 November 2015 / Score: 8
♦ Tread softly, it’s only my heart breaking
♦ Amy Blaschke’s album “Opaline” is a perfect showcase for her writing and vocal talents. The Seattle born singer has a wonderfully rounded singing voice that often gives the impression that she is singing through a sly half–smile. Her songs are not straight country, touched with measures of folk, soul and a little rock grit they sound almost like a product of Lee Hazlewood Industries. There is that same preoccupation with love — both romantic and sensual — and also the feel that Blaschke also inhabits that same cinemagraphic world one step removed from reality. The very first song — “Running into the fire” — encapsulates this perfectly, with its faultless steady rhythm, the gentle burring of an electric guitar and Blaschke’s voice merging with a choir of angels on the repeated chorus line “We do run run — we do run run” and verses which fully embrace an impassioned, if brief, lust, “we give our hearts to the fire, and we walk away”. It sets the tone for the album.
♦ There are similar LHI echoes on “Walking With the Rise”, where, once more, angelic backing vocals add colour to a gentle finger picked guitar song of a semi–regretful single life as Amy Blaschke sings “There’s a road I like to walk along sometimes / It’s dusty and it’s lonesome but it’s mine / And if I find some love of mine is leaving me behind / You can bet I’m kicking dust walking with the rise”. Wistful and gently soulful it’s a sad and reflective country ballad at its best. There are more luscious vocals on “My Own Only”, which features soft organ lines, a little floating guitar and restrained and delicate drumming — all this and wonderful lines like “some say love is an illusion / that there’s always someone losing / if you’re not the fool then you’re the one that’s fooling” and shiver inducing rising vocals on the openly pleading “trust me–e-e–e...I’m lonel–y–y–y”. There are some louder songs, the Nashville featured “Come See About Loving Me” and the edgy “Shiver Wary” which strays into rock territory; musically it feels a bit like late 1970’s John Stewart, with opaque lyrics reminiscent of Howe Gelb. It’s a song that invites repeated plays as the listener wrestles to decipher its message. In short, Amy Blaschke has it all, a pure and yet distinctive voice, accompanied faultlessly by her own guitar, and with casually smart lyrics which create a world of her own. Add in a number of sympathetic players, perfectly matched to the generally gentle tone of the album, and you find in “Opaline” an object of some crystalline beauty.
♦ http://www.americana–uk.com/
Website: http://www.amyblaschke.com/
Shop: http://www.rocketheartrecords.com/
PRESS:
RADIO:
LICENSING: Castle Peak Music /// Andrea Matos ///
MANAGEMENT/BOOKING: Phone Home Management ///
CONTACT AMY BY MAIL: Bird on a Lyre Records /// PO Box 26574 /// Los Angeles, CA 90026
♦ To say that Amy Blaschke’s songwriting is ambitious would be an understatement.
♦ A Seattle born singer/songwriter based in Los Angeles, Blaschke has been releasing her brand of understated and soulful song craft since 1999. Her most recent efforts include Desert Varnish (2013) and Night Canopy (2007), and in the time since these releases, Blaschke collected 28 original songs, 11 of which would become OPALINE, her forthcoming fifth studio album.
♦ “I am triggered to write and I write,” says Blaschke. “Some songs unfold quickly, seemingly on their own, and some songs require years of nurture until they just feel done.”
♦ It’s this prolific but unforced output that has allowed for Blaschke to expand into new territories on OPALINE, which winds between lush, folk–pop melodies (“Running Into the Fire”) and sparse, intimate arrangements (“Opaline” and “Walking with the Rise”) that honor Blaschke’s original vision. With each song on OPALINE, Blaschke sets a mood, only to tear it down and rebuild on the next track.
♦ “Going into this record, it was very important for me to showcase more variety in my songwriting than on previous efforts,” says Blaschke.
♦ Recorded in early 2014 at Station House Studios in Echo Park, California, OPALINE was produced by singer/songwriter and multi–instrumentalist Brian Whelan (Dwight Yoakam, The Broken West) and engineered by Mark Rains (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Waylon Jennings). “I really wanted to express a range of emotion and style on this album, and I think working with Brian [Whelan] accomplished that,” says Blaschke.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
Amy Blaschke — Opaline (October 9th, 2015) |
Amy Blaschke — Opaline (October 9th, 2015)♦
Location: Seattle, WA ~ Lost Angeles, CA
Album release: October 9th, 2015
Record Label: Bird on a Lyre Records
Format: CD, VINYL
Duration: 38:12
Tracks:
01. Running into the Fire 3:32
02. Opaline 3:51
03. Come See About Loving Me 3:12
04. Through to Blue 2:57
05. Walking with the Rise 2:40
06. My Own Only 3:01
07. All of One Love 5:11
08. Shiver Wary 2:41
09. The Line 4:30
10. Just Roses 3:23
11. Above All Oceans 3:14
Notes:
♦ To say that Amy Blaschke’s songwriting is ambitious would be an understatement.
♦ A Seattle born singer/songwriter based in Lost Angeles, Blaschke has been releasing her brand of understated and soulful songs since 1999. For her most recent effort, Blaschke collected 28 original songs, 11 of which would become OPALINE.
♦ OPALINE brings Amy Blaschke’s music to vinyl LP for the first time. A limited run of 300 black vinyl includes: a full insert with Blaschke’s insightful lyrics and a free digital download of the entire album.
CREDITS:
♦ Brian Whelan (vocals, guitar, bass, keys),
♦ Rob Douglas (bass),
♦ Lee Pardini (bass),
♦ Mitch Marine (drums),
♦ Joachim Cooder (drums),
♦ Brendan Buckley (drums),
♦ Jebin Bruni (keys)
♦ Eric Heywood (pedal steel).
♦ Blaschke’s signature guitar work is featured on every track with exception to “Just Roses,” a haunting number that features Blaschke’s ethereal vocal range and ability to maintain live energy in the studio. “When the moment is captured you can’t beat that,” says Blaschke.
REVIEW
Jonathan Aird, Friday, 27 November 2015 / Score: 8
♦ Tread softly, it’s only my heart breaking
♦ Amy Blaschke’s album “Opaline” is a perfect showcase for her writing and vocal talents. The Seattle born singer has a wonderfully rounded singing voice that often gives the impression that she is singing through a sly half–smile. Her songs are not straight country, touched with measures of folk, soul and a little rock grit they sound almost like a product of Lee Hazlewood Industries. There is that same preoccupation with love — both romantic and sensual — and also the feel that Blaschke also inhabits that same cinemagraphic world one step removed from reality. The very first song — “Running into the fire” — encapsulates this perfectly, with its faultless steady rhythm, the gentle burring of an electric guitar and Blaschke’s voice merging with a choir of angels on the repeated chorus line “We do run run — we do run run” and verses which fully embrace an impassioned, if brief, lust, “we give our hearts to the fire, and we walk away”. It sets the tone for the album.
♦ There are similar LHI echoes on “Walking With the Rise”, where, once more, angelic backing vocals add colour to a gentle finger picked guitar song of a semi–regretful single life as Amy Blaschke sings “There’s a road I like to walk along sometimes / It’s dusty and it’s lonesome but it’s mine / And if I find some love of mine is leaving me behind / You can bet I’m kicking dust walking with the rise”. Wistful and gently soulful it’s a sad and reflective country ballad at its best. There are more luscious vocals on “My Own Only”, which features soft organ lines, a little floating guitar and restrained and delicate drumming — all this and wonderful lines like “some say love is an illusion / that there’s always someone losing / if you’re not the fool then you’re the one that’s fooling” and shiver inducing rising vocals on the openly pleading “trust me–e-e–e...I’m lonel–y–y–y”. There are some louder songs, the Nashville featured “Come See About Loving Me” and the edgy “Shiver Wary” which strays into rock territory; musically it feels a bit like late 1970’s John Stewart, with opaque lyrics reminiscent of Howe Gelb. It’s a song that invites repeated plays as the listener wrestles to decipher its message. In short, Amy Blaschke has it all, a pure and yet distinctive voice, accompanied faultlessly by her own guitar, and with casually smart lyrics which create a world of her own. Add in a number of sympathetic players, perfectly matched to the generally gentle tone of the album, and you find in “Opaline” an object of some crystalline beauty.
♦ http://www.americana–uk.com/
Website: http://www.amyblaschke.com/
Shop: http://www.rocketheartrecords.com/
PRESS:
RADIO:
LICENSING: Castle Peak Music /// Andrea Matos ///
MANAGEMENT/BOOKING: Phone Home Management ///
CONTACT AMY BY MAIL: Bird on a Lyre Records /// PO Box 26574 /// Los Angeles, CA 90026
♦ To say that Amy Blaschke’s songwriting is ambitious would be an understatement.
♦ A Seattle born singer/songwriter based in Los Angeles, Blaschke has been releasing her brand of understated and soulful song craft since 1999. Her most recent efforts include Desert Varnish (2013) and Night Canopy (2007), and in the time since these releases, Blaschke collected 28 original songs, 11 of which would become OPALINE, her forthcoming fifth studio album.
♦ “I am triggered to write and I write,” says Blaschke. “Some songs unfold quickly, seemingly on their own, and some songs require years of nurture until they just feel done.”
♦ It’s this prolific but unforced output that has allowed for Blaschke to expand into new territories on OPALINE, which winds between lush, folk–pop melodies (“Running Into the Fire”) and sparse, intimate arrangements (“Opaline” and “Walking with the Rise”) that honor Blaschke’s original vision. With each song on OPALINE, Blaschke sets a mood, only to tear it down and rebuild on the next track.
♦ “Going into this record, it was very important for me to showcase more variety in my songwriting than on previous efforts,” says Blaschke.
♦ Recorded in early 2014 at Station House Studios in Echo Park, California, OPALINE was produced by singer/songwriter and multi–instrumentalist Brian Whelan (Dwight Yoakam, The Broken West) and engineered by Mark Rains (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Waylon Jennings). “I really wanted to express a range of emotion and style on this album, and I think working with Brian [Whelan] accomplished that,” says Blaschke.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦