New Music: Chambermaid

           

Suzanne Vega is debuting the new animated lyric video for the single "Chambermaid" from her critically acclaimed new record Flying With Angels, out now on Cooking Vinyl. The video, directed by artist/animator Michael Arthur. Speaking about "Chambermaid," Vega explains, "In my adaptation of Bob Dylan's ‘I Want You,’ I imagine what the character of the Chambermaid would say about her own aspirations, and her relationship with the great man himself." Flying With Angels—Vega's first full-length album of all new music in over a decade—is produced by her longtime collaborator and guitarist Gerry Leonard (David Bowie, Rufus Wainwright, Laurie Anderson, Duncan Sheik).

Rocktrospectiva: Suzanne Vega's Charming Self-Titled Debut Album Turns 40

Released on May 1, 1985, it was Suzanne Vega's debut album primarily recorded at Celestial Sound in New York City and was produced by Steve Addabbo and Lenny Kaye.The album spawned three singles "Marlene On The Wall", "Small Blue Thing", & "Knight Moves".

The album's folk-style and stripped-back arrangements deviated from the prevailing trends of the time, and helped to usher in a new era of singer-songwriters. Suzanne Vega was a critical success and helped Vega's rise to popularity.  The singles "Marlene on the Wall", become a top 30 in the UK and the album itself reached the top 20 on the UK Albums Chart. 

Due Vega's style, earned her early comparisons were made to Joni Mitchell, Salthough Suzanne Vega's true antecedents were Janis Ian and Leonard Cohen. For critics the key track is "Small Blue Thing," in which the singer pictures herself as an object "Like a marble/or an eye," "made of china/made of glass," "lost inside your pocket," and "turning in your hand." The sharply picked acoustic guitar and other isolated musical elements echo the closely observed scenes everything seems to be in tight close-up and sharp focus. 

Often, the singer seems to be using the songs to measure an emotional distance; sometimes, as in the brilliant "Marlene on the Wall," she observes her own actions from a remove. In "Freeze Tag," she tells a companion, "I will be Dietrich/and you can be Dean".  The ten songs on Suzanne Vega constitute the self-analysis of a young woman who desires possession without offering commitment. Another highlights of the album are "Some Journey" and "The Queen and the Soldier." Like many of her songs, they are simultaneously passionate and dispassionate, they’re true works of art.

Vega’s 1985 debut was the foot-in-the-door for all of the folk-flavored artists who followed. It helped shift the established musical paradigm. Her lyrics are true poems set to song, forever eschewing generalities for specifics, and her melodies mesmerize.

Suzanne Vega’s solo debut helped re-focus the landscape away from synth-driven dirges and ponderous power ballads and to the power inherent in quiet tunes. It, paved the way for the generations of folk-flavored singer-songwriters since. 

 

Suzanne Vega Track List:  

1. Cracking

2. Freeze Tag

3. Marlene On The Wall

4. Small Blue Thing

5. Straight Lines

6. Undertow

7. Some Journey

8. The Queen And The Soldier

9. Knight Moves

10. Neighborhood Girls 

New Music: Alley

            

The legendary alt-rocker Suzanne Vega has shared today a new single "Alley" is the latest advance track from Vega's forthcoming Flying With Angels following "Rats," "Speakers Corner," and "Chambermaid." This one carries along its minor-key guitar tapestry on a propulsive drumbeat, sung by Vega at her breathiest and understated best.

Rocktrospectiva: The Lovely And Expressive "Days Of Open Hand" Turns 35

Released on 10 April 1990 "Days Of Open Hand" was the third studio album by Suzanne Vega. The album was the follow-up to the successful Solitude Standing (1987). It was produced by Vega and Anton Sanko, who also co-wrote six of the album's eleven tracks. Recording took place across multiple studios throughout New York from late 1989 to early 1990.

Days of Open Hand combines Vega's established folk-rock style with more varied instrumentation such as the ney and dumbek and experimental arrangements. High-profile contributors to the album include Philip Glass, Shawn Colvin, and John Linnell of They Might Be Giants. The album saw greater use of synthesizers and samplers than Vega's previous studio albums

Althought Days of Open Hand did not match the success of its predecessor, stalling at number 50 in the US and failing to spawn a hit single. It was more successful in the UK, where it reached the top 10. The album spawned three singles "Book Of Dreams", "Tired Of Sleeping" & "Men In A War". Despite the album did surpass sales of a million copies and reviews were generally positive. Days of Open Hand was nominated for Best Contemporary Folk Recording and won the award for Best Recording Package at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards.

While Vega's previous studio album Solitude Standing was a major success worldwide, spawning the hit song "Luka" and placing within the top 10 of the album charts in twelve countries (alongside a number 11 peak in the US). The album also contained "Tom's Diner" which would achieve further success after being remixed by DNA in 1990. But with the follow-up studio album, Vega went in a more experimental direction, featuring elements of various genres and many high-profile collaborators. Songs such as "Institution Green" and "Fifty-Fifty Chance" place heavy emphasis on atmosphere; the latter features string arrangements done by Philip Glass. Even thought the charm and smooth "Book Of Dreams" the most succesful single of the set peaked at No. 66 in the UK and No. 8 on the US Modern Rock Charts, unfortunately the second and third singles "Tired Of Sleeping" and "Men In A War" failed to see any chart success.  Six of the album's eleven songs feature music written by Sanko while all lyrics were written solely by Vega.

Days of Open Hand did not achieve the sales of its predecessor upon release, but was still successful in many territories. While the album stalled at number 50 in the US, it was a top 10 hit in the UK, peaking at number 7. Additionally, it reached the top 20 in five other countries throughout Europe. 

The album received generally positive reviews from critics, the album was considered as the one with their loveliest music especially on the trio of songs "Men in a War", "Institution Green" and "Fifty-Fity Chance" as a "suite of songs astonishing for their cleareyed gaze at pain", this earned to Vega, comparisons with poets Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath and Stevie Smith. 

 

Days Of Open Hand Track List: 

 

1. Tired Of Sleeping

2. Men In A War

3. Rusted Pipe

4. Book Of Dreams

5. Institution Green

6. Those Whole Girls ( Run In Grace)

7. Room Off The Street

8. Big Space

9. Predictions

10. Fifty-Fifty Chance 

11. Pilgrimage

New Music: Chambermaid

           

The iconical singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega has shared today a new song that's all about existing in someone else's shadow. On "Chambermaid," she sings about tending to a "great man": "I revere the places he has stayed and clean crumbs from his typewriter." It's all about inspiration and maybe also insignificance — the ways that it can be hard to separate those two feelings. The new single comes from Vega's upcoming LP Flying With Angels, her first album of original material in eleven years.

New Music: Speaker's Corner

           

Suzanne Vega will release this spring a new album called Flying With Angels. Her guitarist and longtime collaborator Gerry Leonard produced the record. According to Vega: "Each song on the album takes place in an atmosphere of struggle. Struggle to survive, to speak, to dominate, to win, to escape, to help someone else, or just live." Now shares "Speakers' Corner," an ode to the traditional public space where anyone can preach about anything. The people who actually take advantage of that are often disturbed and fringey types, but they don’t have power and they aren’t trying to sell you anything. In a press release, she has this to say: "That's something you don't want in democracy: the shutting down of the Speakers’ Corner where people get a say. This is a moment in time when people are saying a lot, but sometimes they’re not making sense or not telling the truth. People should be accountable for what they say. The song comes with an animated “Speakers’ Corner” video from director Michael Arthur.

New Music: Rats

           

Suzanne Vega shares her first single in eight years, this is an Ode to NYC Rats, inspired by Fontaines D.C., apparently Vega is a fan of the Irish post-punk band and those little creatures, so practically both prompted the singer to write a new song called "Rats", during a chat with her producter Jimmy Hogarth, both were discussing who had seen the biggest rat, after that conversation, the singer kept reading about or hearing various rat stories, all of them true and this song is the result, the music is inspired by Ramones and Fontaines D.C. and finally the video is an animation directed by Martha Colburn. 

Rocktrospectiva: El Aclamado "Solitude Standing" Cumple 35 Años

 

Lanzado el 1ero. de Abril de 1987 "Solitude Standing" fue el segundo álbum de estudio de la Estadounidense Suzanne Vega, el cual resultó ser su disco más exitoso y aclamado por la crítica en su carrera, llegó alcanzar el No. 11 del Billboard 200, en gran parte por su single "Luka" que llegó al No. 3 en los Estados Unidos, tuvo alta rotación en la MTV y en los VMAs obtuvo el premio a "Mejor Video Femenino.

 

Curiosamente muchas de estas canciones fueron escritas entre 1978 y 1984, pero ganaron fuerza gracias a la producción de Steve Addabbo, Lenny Kaye, Mitch Easter y Ronald Fierstein, además de la diversidad que ofrecían, muchas de ellas sobre temas profundos en especial "Luka" que va sobre el abuso infantil y que data de 1984, también destacaba el tema a cappella de "Tom's Diner" que fue incluida dos veces la otra en versión instrumental como último track, pero que rompería los charts unos tres años después gracias a la producción de DNA.

El tema "Gipsy" que estaba basada en el libro "The Perks Of Being A Wallflower" no encajaba en el disco aunque destacaba su calidez romántica, "Night Vision" inspirada en el poema "Juan Gris" de Paul Éluard, "Calypso" basada en la "Odisea" y así los temas fueron dándole forma al disco que logró el reconocimiento de la crítica. 

 

Por estos lares sonó fuertemente "Luka" y de ahí no se conocería nada más hasta el boom de Tom's Diner" en 1990 gracias al remix que le hizo DNA volviéndola a poner en los radares comerciales, después de este disco lanzaría otro pero no alcanzaría la misma repercusión pese a que llegó a vender un millón de copias.

 

Solitude Standing Track List: 

 

1. Tom's Diner

2. Luka

3. Ironbound/Founcy Poultry

4. In The Eye

5. Night Vision

6. Solitude Standing

7. Calypso

8. Language

9. Gypsy

10. Wooden Horse

11. Tom's Diner (reprise)

La Noticia: Suzanne Vega Anuncia Su Nuevo Disco

La estadounidense Suzanne Vega anuncía el lanzamiento de su nueva producción "Lover, Beloved" para el próximo 14 de octubre bajo el sello "Cooking Vinyl", el disco va en honor de la escritora Carson McCullers la creadora del estilo gótico sureño, el disco incluye diez canciones compuestas por la Vega con la ayuda de Duncan Sheik (aquel que tuvo un hit con Barely Breathing) además de participar en el musical del mismo nombre en honor a McCullers quién es presentada en dos partes de su vida: Cuando alcanza la fama con el libro "El Corazón Es Un Cazador Solitario" y un poco tiempo antes de morir, 

De momento ya se puede escuchar este track del mismo disco: