Artist description Beauty, strength, and confidence pour from each sparkling and memorable tune.

Music Style Eclectic mix of Pop, Rock, Folk and Alternative styles.

Musical Influences PJ Harvey,The Beatles,Simon and Garfunkel,Sonic Youth,Sparklehorse, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac.

Similar Artists Aimee Mann, Lisa Germano, Sheryl Crow,Beth Orton, Portishead, Sparklehorse, REM,PJ Harvey,Sonic Youth,Seven Day Diary,Carmina Piranha,Jeff Trott,Simon & Garfunkel,Fleetwood Mac.

Artist History Away, the debut solo CD from Nancy Hess, is a melodious incantation on the nature of brooding and bittersweet departures. This recording is the product of a year spent in the country, looking back and paying mind to the weight of memory. Former front woman for San Francisco based Seven Day Diary, Nancy Hess left California after the band's split with Warner Bros. She moved to Portland where she found the fresh perspective to create this independent, contemplative pop opus. Away is a fluid and generous recording without the attention deficit disorder typical of FM airplay. The compositions are complex and the lyrics are unapologetic explorations of psychological phenomena. Hess ability as a songwriter is testament to the power of a whisper. You will be compelled to lean in a little and pay attention if you want to be touched by the voracious honesty of these songs. Her vocals are consistently expressive and comforting, the music is textured and curious, and there are some wild tempo switch-backs that feel like a gentle caress bursting into flames. The songs on Away meander through some dark situations but never lose touch with the soul of a strong woman who dares herself to run away from home. "Length of a Country" opens the CD and commences the journey down some hard roads and into the looking glass. "Lonely Revolution" is raw and comes off like an internal call and response from the psyche of someone who takes herself down and gets herself dirty, just to see how much she can take. She isn't a victim she's a controlled experiment. The title track, with Nancy on slide guitar, is a sad so-long song and sets the feel for the record on a "this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you" groove. "Depends on You" is an invitation to intimacy and reveals depth potential unfathomable to the clueless at heart. The gutsy "Wide Open" is a wicked psycho masterpiece that juxtaposes a snappy pop melody with graphic lyrical imagery. Herein lie feminine contents under pressure. Duality in emotion and music is consistent throughout Away. The beat keeps steady through chaos, love and disappointment then breaks on through to the point where the end is the beginning. The CD finishes with "Golden" a song of hope that affirms, "You have to strip it bare/before the next touch of green/and all is forgiven/ you are golden/you can fall away now." Along with Nancy Hess on guitar, bass and vocals, this recording features Jeff Trott (guitar, Wurlitzer, pedal steel and vocals), who was part of Sheryl Crow's dream team with Gregg Williams, percussive main man on Away and on Sheryl's The Globe Sessions.

Albums Away

Location Portland, Oregon - USA

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