Tag: Heroes Waking Up

Anna Tivel’s fourth studio album ‘Small Believer’ is a collection of patchwork stories drawn from conversations with strangers, on the road, in restaurants, bars, and rest stops. Produced by guitar mastermind Austin Nevins (Josh Ritter, Anais Mitchell), the songs float on a raft of electric guitar, pump organ, and sparse bass and drums.

‘Small Believer’ is spacious and honest, a lyric-driven exploration of the things that move within us. Tivel takes great care with every syllable and every story, chipping away until what remains is blindingly true and deeply affecting.

The record is available now cd and digital formats.

Limited edition gold vinyl, hand-numbered to 100 and classic black vinyl will be available in November 2017 (pre-order now and receive the digital download).

 

 

 

Small Believer is Anna Tivel’s 3rd full-length solo release. It’ finds the Portland-based songwriter hitting yet another high mark, with masterful production from Austin Nevins. The songs on Small Believer were written while Tivel was touring, but also in-between shifts at the odd waitressing job, or driving Meals on Wheels in her spare time. She has an extraordinarily keen eye for recasting the images she sees into song, so that a homeless man drawing comfort each day while sitting and watching a building go up, brick by brick, becomes the song “Riverside Hotel.” A chance conversation with a neighbor, also a waitress, who makes an empty promise becomes “Last Cigarette.” Each image or moment that burned itself into Tivel’s memories becomes a launching pad for a larger story that she spins into song.
Listen to the singles “Illinois” and “Dark Chandelier“.

The record is available for pre-order in all formats,including limited edition gold vinyl (limited to 100 hand numbered copies), black vinyl, cd, and digitally.

We are pleased to announce that Anna Tivel has won the Telluride Troubadour contest at the 43rd annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival! It is an incredible honor to be acknowledged among all of the other amazing musicians that made up this year’s finalists.

Congratulations to Anna, and a huge thank you to all of you who have supported Anna and continue to inspire her.

You can stream her latest record, Heroes Waking Up, here.

One listen to her world-weary yet somehow bouyant songs and it’s clear – 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.

Heroes Waking Up, Anna Tivel’s third full-length album, was be 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. The eleven song recording 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.

Give a listen to the record here, and then buy it.

Here’s what some folks are saying about it:

“There is not a single song on here that is easily forgettable, much less filler”. – No Depression

“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

“Heroes Waking Up” is a kind of consecration of artistic identity – Music Won’t Save You

“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.” – Northwest Music Scene