Gwyneth Herbert

***I like to be in America***

...US Album Launch at the Living Room, NY...

Whoooooop. Time is tickling by and our imminent Stateside departure draws ever closer. 'All the Ghosts' was released in the US on Tuesday 8th June, and to celebrate, we're doing a gig at the prestigious Living Room in New York next Thursday 17th June. It'd be ace to see some smiley faces so all you lovely yankee dandies and pondhoppers please come join us for a drink or six and a good old party party party. The music starts at 7pm, and we're on at 10pm.

Then we're off to Rochester to play 4 shows as part of the International Jazz Festival: details for tickets and timings and tings are in the tour section of mysite.

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...Review of the Moment...

First US reviews are melting off the webpress. Here's a really rather lovely one from the nice folks at Direct Current Music:

British singer/songwriter Gwyneth Herbert posesses a remarkably tough and tender voice that has been called 'bewitching' and 'a knowing mix of honey, steel and gravel'. Originally pegged primarily as a jazz vocalist for her 2004 debut album, Herbert left the standards far behind with her second album, 2007's Between Me and the Wardrobe, an inventive self-penned, self-released effort that with critical raves was eventually picked up by Blue Note for European distribution. She says simply, 'I wanted to tell my own stories.'

Latest album All The Ghosts, finally arriving June 8 in the U.S., grew out of songs recorded for a special on-line project commissioned by Peter Gabriel and recorded at his Real World studios last year. At turns whimsical, sentimental, dispassionately observational and practically oozing with emotion, Ghost's ten tracks are completely and unabashedly original utilizing a wide-ranging array of instrumentation, mood and atmosphere. British music hall piano romps are mixed alongside jawdropping balladry and modern, sometimes dissonant rhythmic backing that recall everything from Nina Simone to Kurt Weill to Regina Spektor to Annie Lennox. There's even a nearly straight-ahead jazz track 'Some Days I Forget', a song that still manages to add Herbert's own idiosyncratic signature notes: an unexpectedly timeless voice, soul-baring lyrics and a goose-bump enducing personal delivery. It's THAT good. Highly recommended.

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...Leap Year Soundtrack...

Hope you had a very merry etc; have re-evaluated your Resolutions and, on balance, scribbled out 'sail round the world on a blow-up airbed equipped only with an A-Z of Birmingham and a wooden ladle'; and the January Bluesman hasn't yet come a-sneaking up on you with banjo-led news that you'll always be broke, spotty, alone and talentless on the tuba.

If you are in need of a little up-cheering, why not haul your asses down to the local picturehouse and dive into escapist romcom 'Leap Year', starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode. Not only do you get to watch unfeasibly attractive people end up inevitably with a happiness that will always evade your grasp, gaze at the beautiful Irish landscape with only the occasional glance out of your window at the wheelie bins in the Lidl carpark, but you can also hear our version of Neil Young's 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' on the soundtrack. And if that doesn't bring a smile to your face, you are beyond hope.

Big love, as always,

Gx

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ALL THE GHOSTS... ARE HERE!
Help your ears to some songs from the new album here.
You can now order your copy of 'All the Ghosts' from my website here, Play.com or Amazon.
You can also download the album in mp3 format, CD quality, or HI definition from the website of my lovely label, Naim Edge.
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The beautiful album package was designed by our new friend Keemo. Please go and check his work out... There are breathtaking, charming, individual pieces for affordable prices.* He is a brilliant talent and generally lovely fellow.

*But please leave some for us.
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The album was mixed and mastered by our good mate and sound wizard Robert Harder. We also recorded 'Annie's Yellow Bag' and a little surprise (shhh... don't tell anyone) one spring afternoon in his lovely studio in Hornsey. Robert worked alongside Seb on the Wardrobe album, and he sure knows how to make things sound good.
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Lyrics from the album HERE.
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Song notes and photos from the making of the album coming soon...