Pitchfork: Azure Ray-Related Projects Abound!

Having lived in each other's pockets for many years now, Azure Ray's Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor have decided to step outside their moniker and release debut solo albums this year. The two have been playing side by side for many a year, first in Little Red Rocket, then in stints helping out Bright Eyes and Now It's Overhead (and Moby, playing with and co-writing "Great Escape" on his 18 album). For the last few years they've been the duo Azure Ray, but there comes a time when ideas and personalities must be explored, and for fans, it's going to be a rare treat to hear one singer without the other, if only for a change of pace. It's either that or this is a cute plan by the Saddle Creek label to wrench even more money out of the rabid Bright Eyes fanbase, as both albums will be released by the Omaha-based record company. While there ain't no Peaches without the Herb, or, um, no Tears without the Fears, both halves of Azure Ray's solo outings are sure to be lovely listens as both Taylor and Fink are highly talented singers and writers.

Maria Taylor released her first solo album 11:11 this week and it includes 10 vignettes that call up passionate songwriters of the past like Carol King, Laura Nyro, and Rickie Lee Jones. Naturally there are the lush arrangements and a couple of off-kilter twists that one would expect from an Azure Ray album, but emphasis is clearly placed on Taylor's voice and lyrics, making for a more intimate and isolated listen. The album was recorded by Saddle Creek's "go-to" producer Mark Mogis and Now It's Overload's Andy LeMaster at Presto! Studios in Nebraska and Chase Park Transduction in Georgia and features contributions from Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst, Cursive's Gretta Cohn, and the aforementioned LeMaster. The tracklisting for 11:11 is:

01 Leap Year
02 Song Beneath the Song
03 Two of Those Two
04 Nature Song
05 Light House
06 One for the Shareholder
07 Xanax
08 Birmingham 1982
09 Speak Easy
10 Hitched

Orenda Fink, on the other hand, will be releasing her album, Invisible Ones on August 23 and it will most definitely be an acute and sensitive look into her life over the last while, as she has spent considerable time traveling in Haiti, India, and Cambodia, soaking up the spirit and spirituality of the lands and peoples along the way. The album was produced by Fink and the ever-present LeMaster in Georgia and New York and is peppered with guests complimenting that beautiful voice, including Todd Baechle (the Faint), Scott Amendola (Scott Amendola Band), Jackie Lyons (Little Red Rocket, Azure Ray), Clay Leverett (Lona, Now It's Overhead), Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes, the Faint, Rilo Kiley), Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers), Dave Sitek (TV on the Radio), and Haitian singers Rozna Zila and Sandy M. Saint-Cyr, courtesy of Troupe Makandal. Here's the tracklisting for Invisible Ones:

01 Leave It All
02 Invisible Ones
03 Guard the Gate
04 Bloodline
05 Blind Asylum
06 Les invisibles
07 Miracle Worker
08 No Evolution
09 Easter Island
10 Animal

Taylor will be returning to the U.S. for a full tour later this summer, but until then, her current European tour continues:

05-25 Liege, Belgium - Phoenix Club
05-26 Hamburg, Germany - Weltbuhne
05-28 Stockholm, Sweden - Popganda Festival
05-30 Oslo, Norway - Garage
05-30 Copenhagen, Denmark - Rust
05-31 Berlin, Germany - Knaack Klub
06-01 Dresden, Germany - Scheune
06-02 Frankfurt, Germany - Dreikonigskeller
06-03 Bremen, Germany - Romer
06-04 Cologne, Germany - Blue Shell
06-05 Munich, Germany - Orangehouse
06-06 Vienna, Austria - Chelsea

* Azure Ray: <a

Posted by David Nadelle in on Wed: 05-25-05: 12:00 AM CDT | Digg this article | Add to del.icio.us | Permalink

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