Heather Maloney - Heather Maloney
Label.........................: Signature Records
Genre.........................: Folk
StoreDate.....................: Mar-12-2013
Source........................: CDDA
Grabber.......................: Exact Audio Copy (Secure Mode)
Encoding Scheme...............: Lame 3.98.4 V0 VBR Joint-Stereo
Size..........................: 63.21 MB
Total Playing Time............: 39:38
Release Notes:
ôI always said that if I didnÆt write songs, IÆd be covered in tattoos,
because every song I write is something I want to remember really
badly,ö says Heather Maloney.
She has no ink so far. Instead, the Northampton, Mass., singer and
songwriter is marking life lessons with music on her new self-titled
album, penning tuneful reminders to herself about the little triumphs of
love on ôFlutter,ö the solace of redemption on ôTurn Yourself Aroundö
and her firm belief that nothingÆs colder than trying too hard to be
cool, an idea that inspired ôFire for You.ö
Heather Maloney, out in March on Signature Sounds, is the third album
for a songwriter hailed by The Huffington Post for ôlyrics that cut to
the chase.ö DigBoston wrote that she ôdeserves the type of cult
following that has allowed the likes of Aimee Mann and Ani DiFranco that
long standing success and influence they have had.ö
Although MaloneyÆs influences are largely rooted in what she calls
ôadventurous folk,ö she pushes outward on these 11 songs, digging
deeper, and roaming wider, than she has before on songs populated by
vivid characters that ultimately trace their way back to her.
She uses juicy touches of pop, and a little dash of rock ÆnÆ roll on
ôIron Bull,ö a song she wrote after visiting Zucotti Park during, Occupy
Wall Street.
ôItÆs become more multi-dimensional,ö she says, a change she credits to
the way she approached Heather Maloney. She mostly performed by herself
in concert when she made her first two albums, so the recorded songs
didnÆt sound the way they did when she played them live. This time, she
road-tested the new material with Ken Maiuri (Mark Mulcahy, the Young at
Heart Chorus) on bass and J.J. OÆConnell on drums, fine-tuning songs as
she performed them in front of audiences before heading into the studio.
ôI love playing with a band,ö says Maloney, whoÆs even done some
co-writing with Maiuri. ôItÆs become an integral part of the music.ö
If thereÆs a typical path to becoming a songwriter, Maloney didnÆt
follow it. Although she went to school for music and had done plenty of
singing, she only began writing tunes a few years ago after living and
working for three years in a silent-retreat meditation center in central
Massachusetts.
ôThe biggest motivating factor in writing was probably the experiences
that I was having here in my meditation practice,ö she says. ôThere was
the difficulty of it, the suffering of it, and wanting to channel that
into something creative, and on the positive side, the insights that
came out of my experiences.ö
Those experiences proved especially inspirational on ôDirt & Stardust,ö
the folky centerpiece of the album. On one level, itÆs a song about a
rambling woman, an idea whose origins were simple enough: ôWho doesnÆt
love songs about ramblers?ö Maloney says. ôItÆs adventurous, and
heartbreaking, but beautiful.ö
On a deeper level, though, itÆs a song about embracing impermanence. ôI
donÆt want these walls to wall me in forever,ö Maloney begins, singing
with the hint of a quaver in her sweet voice tinged with earthy grit.
ôDonÆt want to make my home on fenced-in land. We can buy our lot, we
can mark our spot but weÆre travelers whether we like it or not, so
please make my castle out of sand.ö
ôIt led me back to the meditation practice,ö she explains. ôA large part
of what this practice is aiming to get you to recognize is that
everything is impermanent, and not only to recognize that, but to be OK
with that, and maybe even celebrate that. So in this song IÆm trying to
express this womanÆs complicated relationship with impermanence.ö
ItÆs not just an expression of the characterÆs relationship. Like most
of MaloneyÆs songs, ôDirt & Stardustö is ultimately about herself,
though sometimes her songs are personal in a way that only dawns on her
later.
ôI prefer to start writing like IÆm writing about somebody else, and
maybe it turns out to be autobiographical,ö she says. ôSometimes it even
happens long after IÆve written the song and IÆm performing it live, and
I suddenly feel naked, like, æWhoa, this is really about me, isnÆt it?Æ
ItÆs just that IÆm in a room full of people when I realize it.ö
ItÆs no surprise that those rooms are getting more and more crowded as
people discover her smart, catchy and soulful music. Just wait until
they fall in love with the songs on Heather Maloney.
Tracklisting
01. Great Imposter 3:17
02. Hey Broken 1:51
03. Fire For You 2:40
04. Dirt & Stardust 5:31
05. Flutter 2:59
06. Iron Bull 4:07
07. Turn Yourself Around 3:47
08. Miss Mary Mack 3:10
09. Grace 4:00
10. Darlene 3:53
11. Flying On Helium 4:23
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