artist : saint bernadette
title : i wanna tell you something
date : 2008
label : Exotic Records
genre : pop
cat# : n/a
release date: 02.27.2008
street date : 03.04.2008
tracks : 05
bitrate : avg. 186kbps
size : 26,3 MB
source : cdda
type : album
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Though SAINT BERNADETTE's music seems born of '40s girl
singers and epic '70s rock, Meredith DiMenna and Keith
Saunders, the songwriting team behind the group, met through
a hip hop band. One of their first shows together was an
opening slot for rap legends, Run-DMC. While Keith played the
bass, Meredith was pushed off the stage by one of the group's
rappers when her cameo singing performance seemed to be
upstaging his own.
Soon, they began writing songs together and their partnership
evolved into their own recording studio. While performing
regularly under the name The Saucers, the pair started an
independent label, Exotic Recordings, and released albums for
a variety of groups including NERVOUS SYSTEM, JASCHA EPHRAIM,
PLANESIDE, DOGS OF WINTER and Meredith's brother, J. DIMENNA
In the spring of 2006, they decided it was time to record
their debut full-length album. The pair had a collection of
songs but still needed the right musicians to bring them to
life. They reached into their own talent pool - the artists
and touring musicians on their label's roster. First, they
enlisted solo artist and multi-instrumentalist, Jar-e, to
play bass, Rhodes and trombone. They borrowed Joe Novelli
from J DiMenna's touring band for lap steel and trumpet, and
finally, they took drummer Craig Sala from Planeside. They
called the new line-up Saint Bernadette.
"We've always wanted to create something like Motown or early
Atlantic Records," says Meredith. "Where everyone on the
label collaborated and performed together."
The new line-up went north to a small cabin in Vermont to
learn and arrange the songs. Inspired and invigorated by the
results, they began the search for the perfect recording
location.
"We knew we wanted to record it live. Because of the
instrumentation, the dynamics depend on a real-time push and
pull between the different elements and we felt we couldn't
achieve that in an overdubbing situation," says Keith. "We
really wanted the record to reflect the energy of a live
show".
Recent transplants to Bridgeport, CT, Keith and Meredith
found that a local redevelopment project, the historic Bijou
Theatre, was hiding a large and beautiful ballroom circa 1908
on the second floor. The developers gave the band permission
to use the space for five days - one each to load in/load out
and three to record.
To prepare for the recording, the band played a series of
live shows in New York and Connecticut with the express
purpose of refining the arrangements and establishing the
dynamics. At this point, they enlisted Chris Sanchez,
founding member of NYC's The Fever to produce the album, and
Matt Lane, mobile recording engineer to record it.
The album was recorded completely live - with everyone in the
same room at the same time. It was nearly non-stop recording,
except on breaks to go to the bar next door and keep tabs on
the World Cup. "It was exhausting because we had to be
totally focused the whole time. We all knew that this was it,
we either get it in these sessions or we don't," says Jar-e.
"There wasn't a lot of room for error."
When recording was finished, the next step was mixing. Keith
and Meredith felt strongly that they wanted to work with
Peter Katis of Bridgeport-based Tarquin Studio (Interpol, The
National, Rainer Maria). "Not only is he in Bridgeport, which
was important to us - we really wanted it to be a hometown
effort, - but he's also really talented. Working with him in
his studio was a great experience," says Meredith.
"We had to wait a few months for him because he was busy
working on The National, which was so hard since we were so
excited about the recording, but it was well worth the wait,"
says Keith.
The result is a refreshing real-time view of the band.
Stripped of modern studio conventions, the band's
musicianship, songwriting and musical chemistry is
immediately apparent. The sonic stamp of the recording
location gives the album a distinctive cohesiveness that
suits the band's genre-jumping style. The album In the
Ballroom will be released October 2, 2007.
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01-in between 04:26
02-love is a stranger 04:41
03-one in a million 04:23
04-hard to believe 02:29
05-i wanna tell you something 02:33
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18:32 min
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