| Amaya Laucirica — Rituals (March 2, 2018) |
Amaya Laucirica — Rituals (March 2, 2018)
ΕΠAmaya Laucirica’s “All Of Our Time” is a moment of quiet transcendence.
ΕΠReminiscent of the whimsical melodies of The Go~Betweens and harmonious soundscapes of Cocteau Twins, “All Of Our Time” is the work of seasoned artist Amaya Laucirica, someone who is still perfecting their sound four albums in.
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Genre: Indie Pop
Album release: March 2, 2018
Record Label: Opposite Number
Duration: 46:17
Tracks:
01. Little Clouds 5:22
02. Under The Tide 3:46
03. All Of Our Time 4:19
04. Broken Glass 4:15
05. More Than This 6:41
06. Sometimes 4:04
07. Endangered Man 4:35
08. Let It Happen 4:16
09. Could This Be 5:25
10. Still So Young (Bonus Track) 3:30
PRESS/CREDITS:
• All songs written by Amaya Laucirica
• Recorded and produced by John Lee at Phaedra Studios
• Mastered by David Walker at Stepford Audio
Performed by:
• Amaya Laucirica — vocals, keyboards, percussion, arrangements
• Andrew Keese — guitar, keyboards, vocals, string arrangement on ‘Could This Be’
• Giles Simon Fielke — bass, vocals
• Hugo Cran — drums
• J.P. Shilo — electricity guitar, autoharp, vocals 
© Amaya Laucirica with Brighter Later and Matt Bailey, The Toff In Town, 30 Oct. 2013, Tone Deaf
PRESS/CREDITS:
ΕΠ“Bright and brilliant enough to immediately thrust her forthcoming new LP in to the ‘essential’ category” — GoldFlakePaint UK
ΕΠ“Amaya Laucirica’s new single will trap you and won’t let go” — Double J ‘Best New Music’
ΕΠRituals is the ambitious new album from Australian musician Amaya Laucirica, which is due for release on 2 March 2018 via Opposite Number and Kasumuen Records.
ΕΠAmaya’s work blends the swirling contours of the Cocteau Twins with the wistful melodies of The Go~Betweens and the sonic depth of Yo La Tengo. Within this rich palette of sound resides Amaya’s uniquely captivating voice, restrained yet beautiful, with rich breathy tones offering touching moments of yearning and lament.
ΕΠAmaya began work on Rituals in 2015 while residing in Berlin. During this period, she also spent time performing live and completed a solo tour of venues throughout Spain.
ΕΠShe returned to Australia in 2016, where she formed the band behind Rituals, featuring Andrew Keese (a singer~songwriter and composer in his own right, on guitar), Hugo Cran (from Beggars Banquet alumnus The Devastations on drums) and Giles Fielke (previously of Lowtide on bass). The record was produced by John Lee at Phaedra Studios and mastered by David Walker at Stepford Mastering.
ΕΠThe first single from the album, “More Than This”, was accompanied by a stunning video directed by Geoffrey O’Connor, featuring the dancer Oge Ogemdi which was premiered via Gold Flake Paint. The second single, “All Of Our Time”, is a gorgeously melodic ballad that manages to be wistful, introspective and uplifting all at once. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of a long~term relationship and was debuted by The Line of Best Fit.
ΕΠOver the course of two EPs, three albums and countless live shows Amaya Laucirica has established a unique presence in the Australian musical landscape.
ΕΠFrom her childhood in rural South Australia, Amaya first moved to Sydney before finally settling in Melbourne where, in 2008, she released her debut album Sugar Lights. A beguiling and delicate blend of country, folk, rock and pop, Sugar Lights was critically lauded and resulted in Amaya being invited to perform at the North by Northeast (NXNE) music festival in Canada.
ΕΠIn 2010 she released Early Summer, an album that truly defined Amaya’s sound and captured the attention of critics and listeners alike. Early Summer was recognised as JJJ’s “Album of the Week” and led to Amaya undertaking a series of shows with respected international acts such as Blonde Redhead, Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age) and a national tour with Australian rock icon, Adalita in 2011.
ΕΠHer third album, Sway was released in 2014 and supported by national tour dates covering both regional areas and capital cities. In addition to these dates, Amaya also performed shows at MONA, White Night and Melbourne Music Week.
ΕΠRituals is a personal and intimate album dealing with themes of time, frustration, acceptance, loss and love. Musically, it is a richly complex and layered album that, although intricate and sometimes dense, also contains sparse moments of quiet transcendence and space. Rituals marks a major artistic statement and is the perfect demonstration of her talent for her first international release.
Review
Words by Tom Johnson
ΕΠ‘Little Clouds’, the opening track on Amaya Laucirica’s new album, is a beautifully spacious introduction to her new work, the kind of softly detailed track that gently envelops the listener, quietly building a world around you, almost unnoticeably, until there’s little else to do but to explore more thoroughly, letting the whole thing roll out, piece by sumptuous piece.
ΕΠReleased later this week, but streaming in full for you here, from today, Rituals is the fourth full~length album from the Australian artist, and perhaps her most adventurous work to~date; a sprawling, ten~song rumination, on life and love, on the world and her place within it. While it could quite reasonably be labeled as dream~pop, the record is all the more compelling because of the real~world intricacies that vein their way through it, a life~blood that always binds the songs to the pains and pressures that rarely exist in dreams, like a kite~line gripped tight, never allowing it to soar too far from the one holding it.
ΕΠPastel~shaded but always luminous, the collection is inspired by the likes of the Cocteau Twins and The Go~Betweens, but what really comes through is Laucirica’s own vision. Across the span of ‘Rituals’ it’s her voice that compels; a bold, warm~hearted glow that underlies each and every song on the record, from it’s more tender moments — the lilting ‘Broken Glass; the smothering ‘Endangered Man’ — to it’s more emphatic pop moments, of which there are many, including the punchy, guitar~led ‘Sometimes’ and the dense balladry of the record’s lead single, and stand~out moment, ‘All Our Time’.
ΕΠ“Rituals marks ten years since I released my first album,” Laucirica says of her new work. “I started writing the album whilst I was living in Berlin in 2015, planning my next move. Berlin was the perfect place to be as I was removed from anything I had known, which in turn gave me so much space to create. For me the record sounds like that time, of starting again. It also sounds new because it was the first time I had arranged songs completely on my own without a band. Because of that, I feel the songs have more of an identity and that the album has a more singular vision than my previous work.”
ΕΠMaking good on such reflections, Rituals is a creative and absorbing journey, a record that sprawls but is still laden with intricate weaves, little folds in the map that hide places you never even noticed were missing first, second, third time around. Find some time and space of your own and listen to this gem of an album; it’s streaming in full below right now. ΕΠhttps://www.goldflakepaint.co.uk/
Bandcamp: https://amayalaucirica.bandcamp.com/album/rituals
Website: http://www.amayalaucirica.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/amayalaucirica
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/amayalaucirica
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amaya.laucirica
Shop: http://www.kasumuen.com.au/releases/amaya-laucirica-rituals-blue-vinyl-lp-cd/
Shop EU: https://www.oppositenumber.com/
Ξ•ΞΞ•ΞΞ•ΞΞ•Ξ_____________________________________Ξ•ΞΞ•ΞΞ•ΞΞ•Ξ
| Amaya Laucirica — Rituals (March 2, 2018) |
ΕΠReminiscent of the whimsical melodies of The Go~Betweens and harmonious soundscapes of Cocteau Twins, “All Of Our Time” is the work of seasoned artist Amaya Laucirica, someone who is still perfecting their sound four albums in.
Genre: Indie Pop
Album release: March 2, 2018
Record Label: Opposite Number
Duration: 46:17
Tracks:
01. Little Clouds 5:22
02. Under The Tide 3:46
03. All Of Our Time 4:19
04. Broken Glass 4:15
05. More Than This 6:41
06. Sometimes 4:04
07. Endangered Man 4:35
08. Let It Happen 4:16
09. Could This Be 5:25
10. Still So Young (Bonus Track) 3:30
PRESS/CREDITS:
• All songs written by Amaya Laucirica
• Recorded and produced by John Lee at Phaedra Studios
• Mastered by David Walker at Stepford Audio
Performed by:
• Amaya Laucirica — vocals, keyboards, percussion, arrangements
• Andrew Keese — guitar, keyboards, vocals, string arrangement on ‘Could This Be’
• Giles Simon Fielke — bass, vocals
• Hugo Cran — drums
• J.P. Shilo — electricity guitar, autoharp, vocals
PRESS/CREDITS:
ΕΠ“Bright and brilliant enough to immediately thrust her forthcoming new LP in to the ‘essential’ category” — GoldFlakePaint UK
ΕΠ“Amaya Laucirica’s new single will trap you and won’t let go” — Double J ‘Best New Music’
ΕΠRituals is the ambitious new album from Australian musician Amaya Laucirica, which is due for release on 2 March 2018 via Opposite Number and Kasumuen Records.
ΕΠAmaya’s work blends the swirling contours of the Cocteau Twins with the wistful melodies of The Go~Betweens and the sonic depth of Yo La Tengo. Within this rich palette of sound resides Amaya’s uniquely captivating voice, restrained yet beautiful, with rich breathy tones offering touching moments of yearning and lament.
ΕΠAmaya began work on Rituals in 2015 while residing in Berlin. During this period, she also spent time performing live and completed a solo tour of venues throughout Spain.
ΕΠShe returned to Australia in 2016, where she formed the band behind Rituals, featuring Andrew Keese (a singer~songwriter and composer in his own right, on guitar), Hugo Cran (from Beggars Banquet alumnus The Devastations on drums) and Giles Fielke (previously of Lowtide on bass). The record was produced by John Lee at Phaedra Studios and mastered by David Walker at Stepford Mastering.
ΕΠThe first single from the album, “More Than This”, was accompanied by a stunning video directed by Geoffrey O’Connor, featuring the dancer Oge Ogemdi which was premiered via Gold Flake Paint. The second single, “All Of Our Time”, is a gorgeously melodic ballad that manages to be wistful, introspective and uplifting all at once. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of a long~term relationship and was debuted by The Line of Best Fit.
ΕΠOver the course of two EPs, three albums and countless live shows Amaya Laucirica has established a unique presence in the Australian musical landscape.
ΕΠFrom her childhood in rural South Australia, Amaya first moved to Sydney before finally settling in Melbourne where, in 2008, she released her debut album Sugar Lights. A beguiling and delicate blend of country, folk, rock and pop, Sugar Lights was critically lauded and resulted in Amaya being invited to perform at the North by Northeast (NXNE) music festival in Canada.
ΕΠIn 2010 she released Early Summer, an album that truly defined Amaya’s sound and captured the attention of critics and listeners alike. Early Summer was recognised as JJJ’s “Album of the Week” and led to Amaya undertaking a series of shows with respected international acts such as Blonde Redhead, Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age) and a national tour with Australian rock icon, Adalita in 2011.
ΕΠHer third album, Sway was released in 2014 and supported by national tour dates covering both regional areas and capital cities. In addition to these dates, Amaya also performed shows at MONA, White Night and Melbourne Music Week.
ΕΠRituals is a personal and intimate album dealing with themes of time, frustration, acceptance, loss and love. Musically, it is a richly complex and layered album that, although intricate and sometimes dense, also contains sparse moments of quiet transcendence and space. Rituals marks a major artistic statement and is the perfect demonstration of her talent for her first international release.
Review
Words by Tom Johnson
ΕΠ‘Little Clouds’, the opening track on Amaya Laucirica’s new album, is a beautifully spacious introduction to her new work, the kind of softly detailed track that gently envelops the listener, quietly building a world around you, almost unnoticeably, until there’s little else to do but to explore more thoroughly, letting the whole thing roll out, piece by sumptuous piece.
ΕΠReleased later this week, but streaming in full for you here, from today, Rituals is the fourth full~length album from the Australian artist, and perhaps her most adventurous work to~date; a sprawling, ten~song rumination, on life and love, on the world and her place within it. While it could quite reasonably be labeled as dream~pop, the record is all the more compelling because of the real~world intricacies that vein their way through it, a life~blood that always binds the songs to the pains and pressures that rarely exist in dreams, like a kite~line gripped tight, never allowing it to soar too far from the one holding it.
ΕΠPastel~shaded but always luminous, the collection is inspired by the likes of the Cocteau Twins and The Go~Betweens, but what really comes through is Laucirica’s own vision. Across the span of ‘Rituals’ it’s her voice that compels; a bold, warm~hearted glow that underlies each and every song on the record, from it’s more tender moments — the lilting ‘Broken Glass; the smothering ‘Endangered Man’ — to it’s more emphatic pop moments, of which there are many, including the punchy, guitar~led ‘Sometimes’ and the dense balladry of the record’s lead single, and stand~out moment, ‘All Our Time’.
ΕΠ“Rituals marks ten years since I released my first album,” Laucirica says of her new work. “I started writing the album whilst I was living in Berlin in 2015, planning my next move. Berlin was the perfect place to be as I was removed from anything I had known, which in turn gave me so much space to create. For me the record sounds like that time, of starting again. It also sounds new because it was the first time I had arranged songs completely on my own without a band. Because of that, I feel the songs have more of an identity and that the album has a more singular vision than my previous work.”
ΕΠMaking good on such reflections, Rituals is a creative and absorbing journey, a record that sprawls but is still laden with intricate weaves, little folds in the map that hide places you never even noticed were missing first, second, third time around. Find some time and space of your own and listen to this gem of an album; it’s streaming in full below right now. ΕΠhttps://www.goldflakepaint.co.uk/
Bandcamp: https://amayalaucirica.bandcamp.com/album/rituals
Website: http://www.amayalaucirica.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/amayalaucirica
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/amayalaucirica
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amaya.laucirica
Shop: http://www.kasumuen.com.au/releases/amaya-laucirica-rituals-blue-vinyl-lp-cd/
Shop EU: https://www.oppositenumber.com/