Orders can be placed here for Emily Arin's new Patch of Land CD. Or, you can download a digital copy here on my website. The album is also available through Bandcamp and iTunes. You can preview the entire album on Bandcamp.
Here's what some people are saying in response to the release of Patch of Land:
"Here is a case of where less is more; the songs speak on their own with touches of mellotron and slide guitar that add the necessary colour yet never distracts from the center stage of her songs and her haunting listen-to-it-all-day kind of voice." - Bruce Warren, WXPN
"If Emily Arin doesn’t someday become a household name, it will be a shame. She is an incredibly gifted songwriter..." -The Late Greats Music Blog
"[Arin] counts Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Hank Williams and Gillian Welch among her influences, but then, so do a lot of people who can’t write for sh*t. Arin has the goods, though...It’s a lovely introduction to a promising young performer." -Listen, Damnit Blog
|
With a plaintive, delicate voice, Montour Falls, New York’s, Emily Arin weaves tales concerned with the heavy graces of being human. Working with noted producers, Brian McTear (Matt Pond PA, Sharon Van Etten) and Greg Weeks (Espers), Arin has crafted songs with a wide-ranging mix of influences, from Hank Williams and Memphis Minnie to Nick Drake, Caetano Veloso, Tom Waits, Sybille Baier and Gillian Welch on her debut studio album, Patch of Land, available January, 2011.
In her lyrics, Arin explores experiences where shadows and light converge and transformation is offered as a possibility. Whether autobiographical songs of love and longing, or third person waltzes and ballads (as in Patch of Land’s ‘Sweetly Breathe’), Arin’s inventiveness with language and melody hold court. “Songwriting for me is a process of distillation,” she says. “My aim is to repeatedly filter an idea and emotion to form an honest vehicle for sharing life’s poignancy, playfulness and mystery.”
In recent years, Arin’s songs have captured the attention of radio luminary, Vin Scelsa (“Idiot’s Delight,” WFUV), who said of the album and its first single, “‘When You Knew Me When’ just blows me away. Makes me cry every time. The album is beautiful. A total success. It is like a warm embrace.”
The 11 tracks on Patch of Land form a tapestry of graceful songwriting—work informed by Arin’s earliest inspirations, world travels, personal tragedies and pure serendipity.
Citing gymnast Nadia Comaneci as a childhood idol, Arin later discovered Leonard Cohen in her teens when his “Suzanne” comforted her upon returning from a trip to El Salvador where she lost a friend to drowning. In 2007, Arin traveled to Paris where a chance encounter made Sergio Diaz of Os Mutantes a fan before moving from her urban hometown of Los Angeles to the quiet confines of upstate New York.
Back in the US, Arin has garnered praise from Kim Ruehl of No Depression where she was named one of the “top five unknown artists you love” and recently had songs placed in Greenland’s first international feature film, “Nuummioq,” alongside work from Giant Sand, Howe Gelb, and Matt Bauer. Arin performed these songs in support of the movie at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah last year.
Now, with a few years of reflective songwriting and cabin living under her belt, Arin is re-joining urban life with a move to Philadelphia—a more convenient base for music collaboration and touring. She plans to announce more live dates in early 2011.
---------------
Recommended if you like: Jana Hunter, Laura Veirs, Gillian Welch, Leonard Cohen, Alela Diane, Cat Power, Connie Converse, Eilen Jewell, Josh Ritter, Jolie Holland, Laura Gibson.
|
David Zug Thompson, Brian Dozoretz, Emily Arin, Peter Glanville, Joe Novelli Photo by frameAdvocate
