Some Diurnal Aural Awe on Spiral

It feels entirely fitting, as Allison Crowe and bandmates ready for recording sessions, the first non-solo tracks for Crowe since her album “Spiral”, a lovely review of that 2010 song collection appears now in “Some Diurnal Aural Awe”: http://somediurnalauralawe.blogspot.ca/2015/09/allison-crowe-spiral-album-review.html

 

“Honest and Heartfelt, Both of Them” subtitles Some Awe - a writer, poet, and retired English teacher whose deep love and appreciation of music is woven into blog form.



And here’s the music from “Spiral” – produced wonderfully by Kayla Schmah: http://music.allisoncrowe.com/album/spiral-2

Chelsea Hotel No. 2

Allison Crowe checks in again with a take on human relations - "Chelsea Hotel No.2" - Leonard Cohen's irregular ode to one whose "heart was a legend".

Allison's joined on this recording by cellist Brendan Millbank - and Kayla Schmah is string arranger and producer on this track from the album "Spiral":

http://music.allisoncrowe.com/track/chelsea-hotel-no-2

Chelsea Hotel No. 2

Words & Music by Leonard Cohen, Ron Cornelius
Performed by Allison Crowe

I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,
you were looking so brave and so sweet,
giving me head on the unmade bed,
while the limousines wait in the street.
Weel, those were the reasons, that was New York,
we were running for the money and the flesh
That was called love for the workers in song
probably still is for those of them left

Ah, but you got away, oh, didn't you baby,
you just turned your back on the crowd,
you got away, I never once heard you say,
I need you, I don't need you,
I need you, I don't need you
and all of that jiving around.

I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel
you were famous, your heart was a legend
And you told me again that you preferred handsome men
but for me you would make an exception
And then clenching your fists for the ones like us
who are oppressed by the figures of beauty,
you fixed yourself, you said, "Well, never mind,
we are ugly but we have the music"

Ah, but you got away, didn't you baby
You just turned your back on the crowd
You got away, I never once heard you say
I need you, I dont need you
I need you, I dont need you
and all of that jivin around

Now, I don't mean to suggest that I loved you the best,
I can't keep track of each fallen robin.
but, I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,
that's all, I don't think of you that often

Chelsea Hotel No. 2

Allison Crowe's take on Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" so redefined an approach to the song it was plenty controversial. Once that dam burst, and hundreds of covers poured forth, Crowe's version took its place as a much-loved, classic, interpretation. On her newest album, joined by cellist Brendan Millbank, she performs "Chelsea Hotel No.2", penned by Cohen and Ron Cornelius. Kayla Schmah is string arranger/producer.

the upward Spiral

...or further up the Spiral, as it were.

(can I tag Trent Reznor in this note?!)
(turns out - no)

Finally, my 7th album is complete. Wait a minute - did i say SEVENTH?! WTF?! The reality of time and age starts to set in when I count albums. I feel old lately. (blame the event of last year's 10 year high-school reunion - which I was unable to attend)

Let's just say "new" album - ahhh. That's better.

So, my NEW album, Spiral, is finally out (digitally - the hard copy of same is not to be completed til the end of this week) and I am SO freaking excited about this one.

All of those little ideas I've always had, the little sonic bits and pieces that I've wanted, the arrangements and orchestrations, the instruments, were brought to life by some of my best friends. Have I ever rapped away to you the virtues of being independent? Well if I haven't, I'm sure I will. One of the greatest parts of doing whatever I want (besides THAT fact in and of itself) is that I get to work with people that I actually LIKE.- nay, LOVE.

I was certain at the outset of this that the next album had to be different - I just wasn't sure how. I wanted big production sound but as always have wee production budget (meaning everything ends up being mostly homemade - current technology lends itself to this beautifully)

I had the wonderfully talented musicians, and friends, on my side. Billie Woods, Dave Baird, and Laurent Boucher. Check. We played together, even went on tour. Remember that whole thing with the UK. welll, the stuff after that was awesome. Check.

What's this? A cellist? Brendan Millbank. Boo ya. Just happens to be my neighbour in Nanaimo. Done.

Moving along...

Next question - how to capture?

I've been engineering my own albums for a while now, learning as I've been going along - so I was sure I'd be able to do a good deal of it - though the perfection of, and gear for, some certain sonic elements still elude me. Enter the mix between myself and Larry Anschell - Turtle Studios super dude. (has done mobile recording for Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains - as well as countless successful studio recordings - his studio has an arcade!!!! SRSLY)

The combination of things was decided. I did a lot at home, some already existed, I travelled to some homes, some was live, some was Larry - perfect for all the little bits we needed. You know, Adrian himself caught pieces of Dave's background vocals and all of Brendan's cello.

And what about all those other strings I want to hear in my brains? How the…?

After hitting wall after wall of limitations, both financially and idea-wise, finally, a breakthrough in the form of Kayla Schmah - the ridiculously talented string arranger and producer who I have known for, oh... let's see... at LEAST 10 years. 11? 12? Do i really want to go there? Wasn't I feeling old already? Let's just say we used to sing Indigo Girls and Vonda Shepard songs together on Salt Spring Island at Summer Stock in some year that was still the 90's.

I was lucky enough to have Kayla offer to shape the album in to something beautiful and different altogether. She's sensitive to all the sounds, and knew just what to do - things I never would have even been able to imagine - landscapes of sound I didn't even know existed other than in Lord of the Rings (sorry for the uber-nerdy comparison, it's just that I REALLY REALLY love Lord of the Rings) She made it so I didn't have to listen to tiny little bits of things and adjust their relative volumes. She's also a new mom. I love her endlessly.

Finally, it was coming together.

What about art? Something different... something new... something not my face... (which is always beautifully photographed and made to look really pretty by Billie Woods - she's f**king awesome) (pardonnez-moi...)

Enter Tara Thelen - the painter of the paintings used for this album's artwork. Seriously? I can use these? Are you kidding? I am so freaking lucky it's ridiculous. lol After a lovely telephone conversation with Tara and a bit of time deciding on which of her many amazing paintings to use for this album, we decided on "Look at Me" and "I Found You". Thankyouthankyouthankyou.

Ok so what about layout?

Alix Whitmire - web-designer and cover art designer for a great number of my albums and all around amazing lady who is also an incredibly talented knitter and lover of fibres... She just always knows what looks awesome, including Billy Argel's font, Ginga. Seriously. I love the font. And Alix knows just what to do with it- I can't wait to see it in hardcopy, what with the metallic foils and things with the mixes of colours... YAYYYYY!!!!

I can't forget, too, Condor and John MacMillan - who recorded tracks live way back in the day that have found themselves years in the future on this particular piece - and soundboard operators the world over.

Add in everybody - add in everything - and finally, the culmination, aurally, of what I've imagined and wanted since I used to listen to Counting Crows' August and Everything After until I wore out copies and copies of it from when I was a pre-teen and well after...

I've got it. It's done. I'm pumped. I hope you like it. Thank you to everyone who helped me do this - and to Adrian du Plessis for listening carefully again and again more times than I ever could before my brain would bleed.

Thank you.

Allison :)

next up, the euro-tour in April... stay tuned...

Charmed St. Patrick's Day release for "Spiral

Allison Crowe's newest album, Spiral, is released this March 17, St. Patrick's Day, as digital downloads and a series of 14 videos posted on Allison’s site, Facebook, and YouTube. The physical album/CD is scheduled to start shipping the same day. Spiral comprises 11 songs plus a two song reprise/encore.

Follow the yellow-brick road of song, cinematic in scope, visceral in nature, thinking, feeling, courageous and fun - rock, pop, folk, soul, roots.

Allison Crowe’s music is that feast where, says the poet Rimbaud, “all hearts open and all wines flow.”

Over a decade of reviews, the word most often used to describe the voice of Allison Crowe is “gorgeous”. The word that testifies more than any other to her musical performance is “amazing”. This month, the much-loved and acclaimed singer-songwriter releases “Spiral”, her seventh album/CD. It is both of these things. And plenty more.

U.S.-based entertainment blog ‘Muruch’ earlier this year named it as an album most highly anticipated, and, now, UK music blog ‘We Write Lists’ includes "Spiral" as one of "The Twelve Most Exciting Albums of 2010", remarking: "Crowe's speciality is startlingly beautiful piano-based songs that sort of make you wonder why you bother with anything else."

(Joining Crowe on the list are new recordings from: Fleet Foxes, Fyfe Dangerfield, Girls Aloud, Goldfrapp, Gorillaz, Joanna Newsom, Marina and the Diamonds, Massive Attack, MGMT, Music Go Music and She and Him.)

For Allison Crowe, a peerless live performer, and a singer-songwriter of the thrilling calibre known in the 1960s, Spiral is the seventh release from her label, Rubenesque Records, in as many years. Musical production wrapped on Valentine's Day.

Spiral contains eight of Crowe’s original songs, ranging from the tender and playful country/roots of “Dearly”, to the upbeat pop of “Double-Edged Swords”, ’cross the loving “Oceans”, and darker terrain of “I Don’t Know” and the hard rocking title track. Raw, natural, emotion is embraced passionately with elegiac beauty and melody in these, and such joy-filled tunes as “Going Home Tonight” and “No Matter the Battle”. With the live track, “Wake Up”, Crowe, again, renders the personal universal, and the global, human.

Uniquely known not just as one of the most exciting songwriters of a new generation, Crowe is also one of our finest interpreters of popular song. Spiral’s mix of light and shadow includes a trio of fresh covers – revisiting music of Annie Lennox (“Why”), Leonard Cohen (“Chelsea Hotel No. 2”), and Hunters and Collectors’ Antipodean anthem, “Throw Your Arms Around Me”.

On this new song collection, the bi-coastal Canadian, (she calls Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Nanaimo, British Columbia, home), is joined by ideally-skilled and sympathetic west-coast musicians Billie Rocha-Woods (acoustic guitar, backing vocals), Dave Baird (bass, backing vocals), Laurent Boucher (percussion), Brendan Millbank (cello) and Larry Anschell (electric guitar, and, also, Engineer/Producer at Turtle Studios in White Rock, B.C.)

Kayla Schmah, Los Angeles-based, Canadian-born, composer and film scorer, orchestrates and produces the album with, yes, "gorgeous" musical textures, and cinematic ideas artfully brought to life. Concert capturings by Engineers B.R.N. (aka Condor) and John MacMillan complete this diverse mix of music made in Corner Brook, Nanaimo, as well as Chilliwack, White Rock, Denman Island and Salt Spring Island, Canada, Vienna, Austria, and Hollywood, USA.

The visual art of Spiral matches its aural beauty - with cover paintings by Netherlands-based Tara Thelen, photographs by Canada's Billie Rocha-Woods, and California's Dan Goldwasser, fontage from Brazil’s Billy Argel and graphic design by Florida's Alix Whitmire.

Allison Crowe's trans-national and international concert dates for 2010 follow the release of Spiral.

Valentines for St. Patrick

The musical creation for Allison Crowe's new album, Spiral, wrapped up this weekend, on Valentine's Day.

The physical release is pegged for March 17, 2010 - St. Patrick's Day.

It's all we've hoped for, and more than we imagined.