Tag: Heavy Rotation

Anna Tivel’s latest single, Fenceline, has been added to NPR’s Heavy Rotation!

“Ever since Elliott Smith broke out in the late ’90s, Portland, Ore. has been a hotbed for indie folk troubadours. Laura Veirs, M. Ward, Laura Gibson, and, most recently, Haley Heynderickx have all found inspiration on the banks of the Willamette River. But Anna Tivel is perhaps the most underrated of them all. She’s long been adept at writing arresting but sparse songs, anchored by vivid storytelling lyrics that showcase her uncanny ability to paint landscapes with words. Her latest single, “Fenceline,” is no exception. The song is the first track released from Tivel’s forthcoming album, The Question, due out April 2019. But with this record, her superb compositions have been elevated to new heights. With the help of producer and multi-instrumentalist Shane Leonard and engineer Brian Joseph (Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens), Tivel has crafted a truly goosebump-inducing soundscape.”

The digital single is available now on iTunes, Spotify, and everywhere else. The full length LP will be released April 19, 2019 and can be pre-ordered via the Fluff and Gravy store, including Limited Edition color vinyl.

“Don’t Come To Me”, from Nick Jaina’s Primary Perception evolved from an attempt to write a sympathetic indie-pop song from the perspective of a largely unloveable politician. The track was called “unshakeable” by Spin, and was featured on NPR’s Heavy Rotation, as well as Morning Edition. When it came time to create a video, Jaina teamed up with director Seth Whelden, from Portland-based production company, STNDRD, and choreographer, Candace Bouchard, from Oregon Ballet Theater.  “I’ve been working on composing music for ballet over the last few years, and there is not a better feeling than making music that people dance to, in any style or context”, says Jaina. “I asked my friend Candace Bouchard from Oregon Ballet Theater if she would humor watching me dance at a club and offering some direction on which moves worked. I also asked her to choreograph a routine for some real ballet dancers. The idea was that I would come in with my untrained moves and disrupt this beautiful thing they created, but in the process maybe I could suggest in them some autonomy. I mostly am wary of musicians acting in music videos. We’ve all probably spent too many hours watching musicians try to act. So why not just try to dance instead? At least the results, if not professional, would perhaps be endearing in their awkwardness.”

Enjoy the video, in all of it’s awkward beauty, here.

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M47iv0sg-6k[/youtube]

On his 2013 lp, Primary Perception, Nick Jaina took a gamble, gathering only the people in the studio who wanted to be there and figuring out what song to play only once they were all assembled. It was a completely non-scripted experiment. Often no one had heard the song prior to the session and the four to eight people in attendance would just work out an arrangement right there in the studio, sometimes with three guitarists working at the same time, sometimes with three drummers. Almost all of the instruments were recorded live and the experiment kept everyone focused on the song at the moment, not thinking of what was to come, and arranging their part while they could simultaneously hear what everyone else in the room was doing.

For a limited time, you can order Nick Jaina’s Primary Perception on  deluxe LP and receive an exclusive 7″ with 2 unreleased tracks (Sea of Japan b/w Delta of of Venus). To order the record on Deluxe LP/LP/CD/FLAC/mp3, click here