a r t i s t : Eva Tree
t i t l e : Sail Away
d a t e : 2006
l a b e l : none
g e n r e : Folk
r l s. d a t e : Jul/2006
t r a c k s : 11
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 64,5 MB
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Canadian singer-songwriter, Eva Tree (Ay-vah), has just
released her second full length CD, Sail Away. Her
introspective and hauntingly beautiful songs liken her to
other pared down confessional singers like Beth Orton, Fiest,
and Australian crossover-country singer, Kasey Chambers.
The instrumentation of guitars, mandolin, dobro and accordion
infuse the album with a sepia sun-drenched old-time mountain
sound which charms with its back porch simplicity and complete
lack of pretension.
The singing is raw and unadorned to a stripped down beauty,
and most choruses are complimented by producer Jude Davison.
His harmonies add a warmth of tone that combine with EvaÆs
vocal to create a complexity and sweetness of sound which is
right at the crossroads where heart-yearning melancholy meets
joyful.
Eva Tree hearkens from the same deep mountain woods of British
Columbia as The Be Good Tanyas. She often crossed musical
paths with Sam Parton and Frazey Ford (of The BGTs) as she
honed her music at tree planting camps, living rooms and open
mics throughout Canada. The song, ThatÆs Alright, called out
for Frazeys breathy harmony, and so Eva and her ensemble
drove the recording gear up to Vancouver and completed the
recording there. In a moment of inspiration, Eva also called
on another of Vancouver's emerging groups, The No Sh*t
Shirleys. In a wonderfully raucous familial flurry (one of The
Shirleys is Evas sister) some fantastic harmonies were
recorded on the albums closing track, Heavy Load, giving it a
blues-gospel feel. Evas father, poet Blake Parker, is also
featured on this hand-clapping, foot-stomping track.
WhatÆs exciting about this album is that the songs were
written to interweave with the radio/video script, The
Princess and the Kid, a post-modern fairytale/myth written by
her father, Blake Parker. Tree says that ôby immersing myself
into BlakeÆs poetic and fantastical narrative, I found a voice
for new and unique characters. The project was incredibly
liberating and enabled me to really sing into the songs and
make them my own in a way I had not before.ö
Eva had the rather unusual experience of growing up in a house
with no bathroom or electricity as part of a raggle-taggle
community of artistic hippie-gypsies. While working on this
project, she says ôI suddenly and all at once discovered my
history and heritage through fascinated eyes, and found a
wealth of songwriting material. This project opened a geyser
in me, and the songs continue to flow. With Sail Away, I'm
attempting to integrate the old with the new, have a slow
dance with melody, and tell stories while I do it. ô
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01-Shining Star [04:05]
02-Dreams We've Dreamt [03:49]
03-Hurricane [04:48]
04-All My Love [03:56]
05-Half Mast [04:52]
06-Sail Away [05:02]
07-Strangest Man [04:22]
08-That's Alright [03:16]
09-Dance of Spring [04:02]
10-Everywhere [04:34]
11-Heavy Load [04:28]
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47:14 min