Spotlight on: Wynne Alexander

Wynne Alexander

“You can’t look at a person and know anything,” says Wynne Alexander with a smile, “there’s no successful shorthand in this world. You’ve gotta’ find out for yourself.”

That can apply to Wynne’s music and those who are hearing it for the first time. The East Coast-based singer-songwriter has spent a lifetime looking beyond the obvious. She’s probed the true nature of things and now she’s forging that experience into a stunning body of work. It’s the kind of vision that makes her a genuinely unique performer. And as people discover her songs, they simply want to hear more.

Wynne calls her sound “Cosmopolitan Rock.” It’s a term that neatly sums up the delicate balance she achieves between sophistication and unvarnished emotion. Nationally known disc jockey and radio executive Joe ‘Butterball’ Tamburro said, “If Greta Garbo could sing, she’d sound like Wynne.” In fact there is an austere sensuality and elegance both to Wynne’s musicality and her stage presence that is very reminiscent of the Art Deco ambiance of the late 1920s and 30s.

~from Wynne’s bio on her website

[Wynne Alexander Official Site]

Read reviews of:
[Knowing Love by it’s Absence]
[Take Back the Night]

Buy stuff:

Take Back the Night (2006)
Knowing Love By Its Absence (have to email her to order it)

Discography

Take Back the Night (2006) Knowing Love By Its Absence (2001)

Album Review: Sweet Dark Demon by Willow

Album Name: Sweet Dark Demon
Artist: Willow
Year/Label: 2001 / AEM Music

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Review by Anna Maria Stjärnell

Folk singer Willow is quietly intense and makes lovely music on “Sweet Dark Demon”. Her voice is sweet like honey and underlines the strenght of her music.

She approaches familiar themes of faith and love from new angles. The sparse instrumentation makes the music even more haunting.

It’s a strong album that proves that folk music is alive and well.

Posted on November 5, 2001

Track Listing
Listen to track samples
1. Seem to Have Nothing
2. Scotch
3. Four Corners
4. Down
5. Dead Days
6. Keep Me This Way
7. Absinthe
8. Early Spring
9. Eastlake Bridge
10. Sweet Dark Demon
11. Skinny Girl

Album Review: somehurrygood by Andrea Florian

Album Name: somehurrygood
Artist: Andrea Florian
Year/Label: 1998 / Bathsheba Records

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Review by Anna Maria Stjärnell

Canadian singer Andrea Florian’s third album is brilliant. She writes intelligent lyrics and evocative tunes and finds a good musical setting for them. Among her influences she lists Peter Gabriel and Shawn Colvin and there is a slight resemblance to those artists.

In the excellent “Feminist” she sings “I’m a feminist but it doesn’t mean I hate all men, although I may be concerned about a few of them” Ani Difranco couldn’t have said it better.

Florian has many more great songs on this album. Go investigate.

Posted on November 2, 2001

Track Listing
Listen to track samples
1. More than I am
2. Something Good
3. Counting the Stars
4. She said
5. Indifferent
6. In History
7. Peace of Mind
8. Feminist
9. Point of view
10. Doors open
11. Somebody Else
11. The hey nanana song
12. Lullaby
13. If I..

[Andrea Florian Official Site]

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Album Review:The Vth Angel by Naked Angel

Album Name: The Vth Angel
Artist: Naked Angel
Year/Label: 2001 / Priestess Records

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Review by Anna Maria Stjärnell

This is an unusual record from English band Naked Angel. They play a spacious, inventive progressive rock and find use for odd instruments like the djembe.

At the heart of the sound is vocalist Kat’s beguiling voice which draws the listener in.

Highlights include the moving “Catherine and Norman” a tale of a real life couple told with much empathy and the dramatic “Breathe”.

This is the sort of an album more people should make.

Posted on October 28, 2001

Track Listing
Listen to track samples
1. Beginning To Land
2. Just Coincidental
3. Whittle
4. Breathe
5. Catherine And Norman
6. Love Isn’t Enough
7. Time
8. A Little Love
9. Ripples
10. Breathes Like The Sea

[Naked Angel Official Site]

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Album Review: Lucy Mongrel by Lucy Mongrel

Album Name: Lucy Mongrel
Artist: Lucy Mongrel
Year/Label: 2000 / Joe Records

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Review by Anna Maria Stjärnell

Lucy Mongrel is the alter ego of blues singer Kate Hart who makes what she calls “mongrel music”.

This is a great excuse for Hart to throw on her quirkiest voice and incorporating as many musical influences as she can.

Some people wont get it but it’s their loss. The rest of us can thrill to the insanely catchy “Max the Circus Cat” and the would-be blues anthem “Livin ‘the blues” to name just two of Lucy Mongrel’s songs.

This is a rare musical treat that should be savoured by the wild at heart.

Posted on October 28, 2001

Track Listing
Listen to track samples
1. Meet in the Streets
2. Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed?
3. Five Years Ago
4. Don’t Call It Too Late
5. Circle the Wagons
6. Quicksand Passion
7. Livin’ the Blues
8. The Next Time You Wake up (It Won’t Be Next to Me)
9. Thank You
10. Miss Rowena [Inspiration: Horton Foote’s Midnight Caller]
11. Papa Legba [Inspiration: New Orleans Voodoo Tarot]
12. Ode to a Cowboy
13. Max the Circus Cat
14. Freedom [Inspiration: Marion Hart’s Pem Romania]

[Lucy Mongrel Official Site]

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Album Review: Coleen Rider by Coleen Rider

Album Name: Coleen Rider
Artist: Coleen Rider
Year/Label: 2001 / Parlor Records

[Buy at Coleen’s Official Site]

Review by Anna Maria Stjärnell

Coleen Rider has a warm voice and a style that’s eclectic and radio-friendly at once.

She has some startling images in her songs. She compares love to music in “Chilling Revelation” and later sings of someone having “petal skin”. The power chords of “Deep Eyes” contrast effectively with the softness that the strings are plucked in “Quiet Kiss”.

Rider has made an assured debut that promises much for the future.

Posted on October 26, 2001

Track Listing
1. Chilling Revelation
2. Deep Eyes
3. Quiet Kiss
4. Drove Her Crazy
5. Lullaby
6. Where to Start
7. The Chance
8. Fraidy Cat
9. See Through
10. Off Road Love
11. Petal Skin

[Coleen Rider Official Site]