No guitar picks, no tricks. Singer Tracy Shedd goes acoustic on her new full-length Arizona, a collection of songs about living in Tucson. With husband Jamess Tritten on guitar she get to the heart of the matter. This is a classic unplugged album. Every bittersweet note counts. With a great selection of backing vocalists - Ivan Howard (The Rosebuds), Denison Witmer, Naïm Amor, and Howe Gelb (also on piano) adding a bit of oomph to the surprise Sonic Youth cover Teenage Riot. However, it's the husband/wife team who steal the show. They baked that great cake, all the other stuff is just the icing.
Shedd has been in the business for 30 years, but never went for the less-is-more approach, favoring the electric option. Sure, there is some hiss on the recordings, but cleaning things would have killed the vibe. Just a bit of well applied echo on the vocals on tracks like Control and the lead single Broken Arrows, or the lonesome flute in Friday Night At Einstein's will do to fill out the sound. Best enjoyed during breakfast in bed.
Arizona is available for pre-order from New Granada Records. CD and white vinyl (limited to 500 copies) Release date: November 12.
Tracks:- Sweet Talking
- Sing To Me
- Take A Ride
- You're No Fool
- Control
- Candy (Magnetic Fields cover)
- Boats
- Ninety-Five
- Broken Arrows
- All The Little Things
- Friday Night At Einstein's
- Million Pictures
- Teenage Riot (Sonic Youth cover)
- 11/20 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn (w/ The Good Graces)
- 11/21 Tampa, FL @ New World Brewery
- 11/23 Jacksonville, FL @ Rain Dogs
- 11/24 Fernandina Beach, FL @ The Green Turtle (w/ The Fornicorns)
HCTF review of EP88.