Anna Tivel
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Heroes Waking Up
Anna Tivel has spent her share of quality hours behind the wheel of a Dodge Caravan, repeating lines over and over until the words fall in time with the windshield wipers, or until the gas light comes on.
A national touring artist with a deep love of quiet stories, Anna is one of the brightest young stars of the Indie Folk world. She was recently chosen a winner of both the 2016 Telluride Troubadour Contest and 2015 Kerrville New Folk Contest, placed second at the 2016 Rocky Mountain Songwriting Contest, and has shared the stage with heroes and friends alike.
Anna was raised in the forest and farmland of rural northern Washington and currently calls Portland, OR home. Her songs reflect both the stark colors of small town life, and the hard, sharp lines of the city. Heroes Waking Up, Anna Tivel’s third full-length album, was released on May 20, 2016. It is the result of a year spent living and writing in a friend’s garage and on the road. Folk Radio UK called it, “a superb and sublime album from a voice that deserves to be shouted from the highest rooftops.” Her previous album, Before Machines, was hailed by No Depression as “raw, yet superbly composed and executed, intelligent, personal and deeply expressive.”
Heroes Waking Up winds through a dusky darkness of hopeful strangers, shadowed struggle, quiet love, and flying dreams. Produced by guitar magician Austin Nevins (Josh Ritter, Anais Mitchell, The Mountain Goats), Tivel’s faded-photographic songwriting swells above a soundscape meticulously crafted by Nevins on guitar, lap steel, banjo, and pump organ. He is joined by Sam Howard (Ruth Moody) on bass, Ian Krist (Blind Pilot) on vibraphone, Robin Macmillan on percussion, and Jeffrey Martin and Moorea Masa singing harmonies. Throw in some violin and octave violin from Anna herself and the final effect is a sweeping, dream-like exploration of Tivel’s raw imagery and powerful storytelling.
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Heroes Waking Up
1. Look Away (3:14)
2. Black Balloon (4:42)
3. The Lines and The Tide (4:23)
4. Dial Tone (2:30)
5. Slow Motion (5:21)
6. Lillian & Martha (3:40)
7. Reverie (4:58)
8. Two Pencils and a Photograph (3:40)
9. Rainbows and Ridges (2:25)
10. Shadow of a Son (3:17)
11. Wild Green Field (4:05)
BOLD = focus track
Anna Tivel – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Violin, Octave Violin
Austin Nevens – Electric Guitars, Nylon String Acoustic Guitar, Lap Steel, Pump Organ, Banjo
Sam Howard – Bass
Ian Krist – Vibraphone
Jeffrey Martin and Moorea Masa – Background Vocals
Recorded and Produced by Austin Nevens at Flora Recording and Playback, and Rabbit Hill Recording Studio, Portland, OR
Mixed by Brandon Eggleston and Austin Nevens at Gold Mine, Vancouver, WA
Additional Recording by Robin MacMillan, Brooklyn, NY
Mastered by Roger Siebel at SAE Mastering, Phoenix, AZ
All songs written by Anna Tivel, ASCAP
except “Rainbows and Ridges” by Blaze Foley, Texas Ghost Writers Music, BMI
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Hi-Res Press Photos (by Chad Lanning)
Selected Reviews
“There is not a single song on here that is easily forgettable, much less filler”. – No Depression
“Everything here is testament to her storytelling gifts (she’s been likened to Steinbeck and I suspect she may have a novel or short stories collection in her) with her finely drawn characters and observations of an emotional life that ranges from defiance to regret, joy to sadness.” — Folk Radio UK
“Anna Tivel writes songs that demand the full attention of the listener, and it isn’t hard to give her that because her singing and writing seem to take power over you” – Glide Magazine
“Each song on this album seems to simultaneously sing of sorrow and celebration. That even in the direst of circumstances, life is a still a beautiful thing. The most accurate connection that I could draw to this album is the writing of John Steinbeck… We all need albums like this” – Northwest Music Scene
Anna Tivel is a magician – and her music sparkles and twists like breathy invocations. Her insights are beautiful; her guitar playing is light and sparkling and lies at the centre of a soundscape that rises and falls like an ice sculpture of delicate and fantastical mountain peaks – translucent and refractive. – Americana UK
Praise for Before Machines
“Anna Tivel’s voice is haunting, exhibiting the timbre of a precocious child, whispering to a teddy bear underneath the covers.” – The Bluegrass Situation
“To be sure, these are organic songs that freely reveal the poetry of the mind, heart and soul, the sharp imagery of the world translated into sound, and both the simple and complex things represented sentimentally and at length.” – No Depression
“Portland songwriter Anna Tivel is a favorite over at Hearth. She’s a deft, clever songwriter with a knack for observing the small, subtle beauties of our lives.” – Kithfolk
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