Annabelle Chvostek |
Be the Media |
Annabelle Chvostek — Be the Media (June 1st 2015)
•≡≡• Annabelle rozšiřuje stylistický trojúhelník Patti Smith, PJ Harvey a The Gossip do vícerozměrného světa, kterým ženské singer–songwriterství je, tedy blíže k realitě. Superalbum hodné pozornosti. Annabelle’s new recording takes an unconventional ‘live off the floor’ approach. Her voice is given free reign to let loose with songs that express raw emotions and a groove that tends more towards rock‘n’roll than conventional roots. o Location: Toronto, Ontario ~ Montréal, Québec, Canada
Album release: June 1st 2015
Record Label: Massive Quantities of Good Vibes
Genre: Folk Rock, Female Vocal
Duration: 40:33
Tracks:
01. Be the Media 3:54
02. Jerusalem 5:00
03. Black Hole 6:04
04. This Night 4:25
05. Carnal Delights 4:09
06. You Can Come Now 4:05
07. Like a Hurricane 5:04
08. Inside the Scream 4:06
09. Say It Right 3:46
Credits:
•≡≡• All songs written by Annabelle Chvostek
•≡≡• Except “Like A Hurricane” Neil Young/Silver Fiddle Music
•≡≡• Art Direction & Photograpy by Ximena Griscti
•≡≡• Produced by Jeff Oehler/Beehive Productions & Annabelle Chvostek.
•≡≡• Featuring Tony Spina — Drums & Jéremie Jones — Bass.
•≡≡• Engineered & Mastered by Jeff Oehler
•≡≡• Design & Media by Susan Bibeau
Review
by DAVID KIDMAN on 28 APRIL, 2015
•≡≡• Toronto–born Annabelle Chvostek has come a long way in a dozen years. She started out her career as a wildly experimental singer–songwriter, dabbling in turn with electronica and jazz before getting back to basics with raw angst on 2003’s uncompromising EP Burnt My Ass. A couple of years later, she joined the ranks of The Wailin’ Jennys, and contributed four key songs to the group’s brilliant (and award–winning) album Firecracker. After three years in that lineup, Annabelle broke ranks, releasing a defiant and strikingly individual solo album (Resilience), swiftly followed by a typically idiosyncratic live album and then an unabashedly political set (Rise), whose passionate, joyful anthems of togetherness proved both lyrically and melodically accessible, to the extent that some were arranged last year (by Annabelle herself) for, and performed by, Toronto’s Echo Women’s Choir.
•≡≡• Annabelle’s tough singing voice remains in focus for her latest offering, Be The Media, but the feel of the album is very much back–to–basics, whereby she’s gone back to her indie roots, picking up a 1957 Kay electric guitar to supplement her skills on mandolin and fiddle, and re–enlisted her trusty backing crew (the rhythm section of Tony Spina and Jérémie Jones), while gaining additional creative support from partner Ximena Griscti. In keeping with this ethos, and in collaboration with Beehive Productions producer Jeff Oehler, she’s delivered a “live–off–the–floor” — sounding record that at times (notably on Inside The Scream/Screen and the opening title song) positively oozes VU–style adrenalin–charged rough garage–punk. Annabelle also rocks out aplenty on occasion, as on Say It Right, and makes out typically kooky on the neatly philosophical Black Hole and imparts a carnivalesque aura of Carnal Delights. At the same time, political commentary is not left behind, with Jerusalem forming a powerful adjunct to the Rise album.
•≡≡• The emotional core of the album, though, has to be the plaintive, simple yet intensely personal entreaty of This Night. Against which a reasonable enough rootsy–flavoured cover of Neil Young’s Like A Hurricane (the disc’s only non–original) rather suffers by comparison. Even so, Be The Media is an involving record; Annabelle may have described her earlier album Resilience as “a big complicated hug”, due to its warm enveloping nature, but Be The Media, despite initial appearances of spiky acerbity, turns out to be just as enveloping in its own way.
•≡≡• http://www.folkradio.co.uk/
Website: http://annabellemusic.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnnabelleMusic
Bandcamp: http://annabellechvostek.bandcamp.com/album/be-the-media
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnabelleChvostek
BOOKING
UK
BPA Live
•
Tel: +44 7763 226495
Europe
• con swing Promotions
•
• Tel: +49 30 20065981
North America
•
•
• 1–647–261–1730
RECORD LABEL: MQGV
•
GENERAL INQUIRIES:
•
•
Bio
•≡≡• Annabelle Chvostek is a Juno nominated singer–songwriter and multi–instrumentalist based out of Toronto and Montreal. Americana, UK has described her as an artist “whose talent is so exceptional that [she is able] to explore and master any musical genre she wishes”.
•≡≡• Her fifth solo recording, Be The Media, may take some by surprise. After releasing two albums with Canada’s foremost folk label, Borealis Records, Annabelle has gone back to her independent roots, picked up a 1957 Kay electric guitar, and is releasing a new recording in collaboration with NY producer Jeff Oehler of Beehive Productions, drummer Tony Spina and bassist Jérémie Jones.
•≡≡• Be The Media takes an unconventional approach featuring Beehive’s signature ‘live–off–the–floor’ feel. The songs were recorded live with the trio in a tight knit circle in the acoustic ambience of an old century home. Additional parts were recorded later in Montréal and Montevideo. Her 2008 album Resilience placed a meticulously crafted vocal style under the microscope. In this new album, Annabelle’s voice is given free reign to let loose with songs that express raw emotions and a groove that tends more towards rock’n’roll than conventional roots.
•≡≡• Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Annabelle’s musical career began at the age of eight when she began performing with the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus. While pursuing a degree in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts at Concordia University she released two recordings, One AM to Five AM (1997), a 4–song EP put out on cassette featuring Annabelle solo on acoustic guitar, and Full Stop (2000), her first full length album, in which she experiments with electronic music. In 2003 she released the jazz–fueled Water and in 2005, the raw, angst–ridden EP Burned My Ass, featuring Annabelle on violin and guitar. All four recordings were self-produced and self–released under the label MQGV (Massive Quantities of Good Vibes).
•≡≡• In 2006 Annabelle joined the Wailin’ Jennys and toured the world with their award winning album Firecracker, in which she wrote four songs. Upon leaving the Jennys, she released Resilience (2008), co–wrote two songs with Canadian legend Bruce Cockburn on his Juno winning album A Small Source of Comfort (2011), and put out Rise (2013), an unabashedly political album inspired by the wave of grassroots uprisings that emerged all over the world — from the Occupy Movement in New York to the G20 protests in Toronto in 2011. Rise was nominated for a Juno Award in the Roots and Traditional Album of the Year category, and both Rise and Resilience were nominated for Contemporary Album of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards.
•≡≡• In the last year Annabelle composed and produced a score for NYC–based dance company Drastic Action and collaborated with Toronto’s Echo Women’s Choir, a 93–voice choir that performed songs from her album Rise in a packed Trinity St. Paul’s Church. She also toured in the UK, Western Europe, and the Canadian Prairies and became a mom to her daughter, Anaïs Lou.
_____________________________________________________________
Annabelle Chvostek |
Be the Media |
Annabelle Chvostek — Be the Media (June 1st 2015)
•≡≡• Annabelle rozšiřuje stylistický trojúhelník Patti Smith, PJ Harvey a The Gossip do vícerozměrného světa, kterým ženské singer–songwriterství je, tedy blíže k realitě. Superalbum hodné pozornosti. Annabelle’s new recording takes an unconventional ‘live off the floor’ approach. Her voice is given free reign to let loose with songs that express raw emotions and a groove that tends more towards rock‘n’roll than conventional roots. o Location: Toronto, Ontario ~ Montréal, Québec, Canada
Album release: June 1st 2015
Record Label: Massive Quantities of Good Vibes
Genre: Folk Rock, Female Vocal
Duration: 40:33
Tracks:
01. Be the Media 3:54
02. Jerusalem 5:00
03. Black Hole 6:04
04. This Night 4:25
05. Carnal Delights 4:09
06. You Can Come Now 4:05
07. Like a Hurricane 5:04
08. Inside the Scream 4:06
09. Say It Right 3:46
Credits:
•≡≡• All songs written by Annabelle Chvostek
•≡≡• Except “Like A Hurricane” Neil Young/Silver Fiddle Music
•≡≡• Art Direction & Photograpy by Ximena Griscti
•≡≡• Produced by Jeff Oehler/Beehive Productions & Annabelle Chvostek.
•≡≡• Featuring Tony Spina — Drums & Jéremie Jones — Bass.
•≡≡• Engineered & Mastered by Jeff Oehler
•≡≡• Design & Media by Susan Bibeau
Review
by DAVID KIDMAN on 28 APRIL, 2015
•≡≡• Toronto–born Annabelle Chvostek has come a long way in a dozen years. She started out her career as a wildly experimental singer–songwriter, dabbling in turn with electronica and jazz before getting back to basics with raw angst on 2003’s uncompromising EP Burnt My Ass. A couple of years later, she joined the ranks of The Wailin’ Jennys, and contributed four key songs to the group’s brilliant (and award–winning) album Firecracker. After three years in that lineup, Annabelle broke ranks, releasing a defiant and strikingly individual solo album (Resilience), swiftly followed by a typically idiosyncratic live album and then an unabashedly political set (Rise), whose passionate, joyful anthems of togetherness proved both lyrically and melodically accessible, to the extent that some were arranged last year (by Annabelle herself) for, and performed by, Toronto’s Echo Women’s Choir.
•≡≡• Annabelle’s tough singing voice remains in focus for her latest offering, Be The Media, but the feel of the album is very much back–to–basics, whereby she’s gone back to her indie roots, picking up a 1957 Kay electric guitar to supplement her skills on mandolin and fiddle, and re–enlisted her trusty backing crew (the rhythm section of Tony Spina and Jérémie Jones), while gaining additional creative support from partner Ximena Griscti. In keeping with this ethos, and in collaboration with Beehive Productions producer Jeff Oehler, she’s delivered a “live–off–the–floor” — sounding record that at times (notably on Inside The Scream/Screen and the opening title song) positively oozes VU–style adrenalin–charged rough garage–punk. Annabelle also rocks out aplenty on occasion, as on Say It Right, and makes out typically kooky on the neatly philosophical Black Hole and imparts a carnivalesque aura of Carnal Delights. At the same time, political commentary is not left behind, with Jerusalem forming a powerful adjunct to the Rise album.
•≡≡• The emotional core of the album, though, has to be the plaintive, simple yet intensely personal entreaty of This Night. Against which a reasonable enough rootsy–flavoured cover of Neil Young’s Like A Hurricane (the disc’s only non–original) rather suffers by comparison. Even so, Be The Media is an involving record; Annabelle may have described her earlier album Resilience as “a big complicated hug”, due to its warm enveloping nature, but Be The Media, despite initial appearances of spiky acerbity, turns out to be just as enveloping in its own way.
•≡≡• http://www.folkradio.co.uk/
Website: http://annabellemusic.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnnabelleMusic
Bandcamp: http://annabellechvostek.bandcamp.com/album/be-the-media
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnabelleChvostek
BOOKING
UK
BPA Live
•
Tel: +44 7763 226495
Europe
• con swing Promotions
•
• Tel: +49 30 20065981
North America
•
•
• 1–647–261–1730
RECORD LABEL: MQGV
•
GENERAL INQUIRIES:
•
•
Bio
•≡≡• Annabelle Chvostek is a Juno nominated singer–songwriter and multi–instrumentalist based out of Toronto and Montreal. Americana, UK has described her as an artist “whose talent is so exceptional that [she is able] to explore and master any musical genre she wishes”.
•≡≡• Her fifth solo recording, Be The Media, may take some by surprise. After releasing two albums with Canada’s foremost folk label, Borealis Records, Annabelle has gone back to her independent roots, picked up a 1957 Kay electric guitar, and is releasing a new recording in collaboration with NY producer Jeff Oehler of Beehive Productions, drummer Tony Spina and bassist Jérémie Jones.
•≡≡• Be The Media takes an unconventional approach featuring Beehive’s signature ‘live–off–the–floor’ feel. The songs were recorded live with the trio in a tight knit circle in the acoustic ambience of an old century home. Additional parts were recorded later in Montréal and Montevideo. Her 2008 album Resilience placed a meticulously crafted vocal style under the microscope. In this new album, Annabelle’s voice is given free reign to let loose with songs that express raw emotions and a groove that tends more towards rock’n’roll than conventional roots.
•≡≡• Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Annabelle’s musical career began at the age of eight when she began performing with the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus. While pursuing a degree in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts at Concordia University she released two recordings, One AM to Five AM (1997), a 4–song EP put out on cassette featuring Annabelle solo on acoustic guitar, and Full Stop (2000), her first full length album, in which she experiments with electronic music. In 2003 she released the jazz–fueled Water and in 2005, the raw, angst–ridden EP Burned My Ass, featuring Annabelle on violin and guitar. All four recordings were self-produced and self–released under the label MQGV (Massive Quantities of Good Vibes).
•≡≡• In 2006 Annabelle joined the Wailin’ Jennys and toured the world with their award winning album Firecracker, in which she wrote four songs. Upon leaving the Jennys, she released Resilience (2008), co–wrote two songs with Canadian legend Bruce Cockburn on his Juno winning album A Small Source of Comfort (2011), and put out Rise (2013), an unabashedly political album inspired by the wave of grassroots uprisings that emerged all over the world — from the Occupy Movement in New York to the G20 protests in Toronto in 2011. Rise was nominated for a Juno Award in the Roots and Traditional Album of the Year category, and both Rise and Resilience were nominated for Contemporary Album of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards.
•≡≡• In the last year Annabelle composed and produced a score for NYC–based dance company Drastic Action and collaborated with Toronto’s Echo Women’s Choir, a 93–voice choir that performed songs from her album Rise in a packed Trinity St. Paul’s Church. She also toured in the UK, Western Europe, and the Canadian Prairies and became a mom to her daughter, Anaïs Lou.
_____________________________________________________________