Priscilla Ahn first came to my attention via Joshua Radin’s first CD release where she lent her voice to backup vocals and harmony with Radin (done in his apartment!).
Now she has a new CD that’s launched on Blue Note Records, entitled, A GOOD DAY
In case you are unfamiliar with her work or her incredible voice, here’s a bit of the release that is the best synopsis of her current work
For A Good Day, Ahn reunited with Waronker, and along with multi-instrumentalist Gus Seyffert–who co-wrote “Astronaut” with Ahn–the trio basically recorded the tunes live. “Gus would play bass or guitar, I would play my guitar and sing, Joey would play drums,” explains Ahn. “Once we laid that base down we would overdub quirky things. After a month of just us, we decided we should get some other people in there and add some new sounds.”
Among the guests making their own memorable contributions were keyboardists Greg Kurstin (the bird and the bee, Lily Allen), Keefus Ciancia (Fiona Apple, Cassandra Wilson, T Bone Burnett) and Zac Rae (Fiona Apple, Macy Gray), guitarist/film composer Mike Andrews (Me and You and Everyone We Know); musical saw player Ursula Knudsun; cellist/string arranger Oliver Kraus (Joshua Radin, Beth Orton, Liz Phair); and celebrated jazz keyboardist Larry Goldings. Veteran R&B session singers Jim Gilstrap and Orin Waters lend their voices to “Leave The Light On,” a gentle, folk-gospel sing-along. Ahn herself plays a wide range of instruments including guitar, ukulele, piano, harpsichord, harmonica, and autoharp, amongst others.
Waronker’s approach is elegantly economical. He keeps Ahn’s pristine voice front and center, surrounding her with subtle, beautiful sounds from a range of unusual instruments. A Good Day is grounded in folk, country and pop, yet it’s never constrained by the dictates of any genre. For example, Ahn ingeniously transforms Willie Nelson’s breakup ballad, “Opportunity To Cry” into an upbeat shuffle, while maintaining all its pathos. Though Ahn presents a dreamy, sunny facade in her lyrics, her songs display a serious emotional depth and an almost preternatural maturity. When Ahn impetuously hit the road a few years back, she may not have known exactly where she was going, but A Good Day proves she’s always been headed in the right direction
I managed to track her down as her new CD was just being launched and got a chance to chat with her on the phone about the CD, music, life and many things.
TOUR DATES:
Monday, February 09 Glasgow, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall2 Sauciehall St, G2 3NYPhone: 01144 141 353 8000
Wednesday, February 11 Nottingham, Royal Concert Hall
Thursday, February 12 Birmingham, Royal Symphony HallBroad St., B12 EA
Friday, February 13 Gateshead, -The Sage
February 15 London, Barbican
Monday, February 16 London, Barbican
Tuesday, February 17 Southampton, Southampton Guildhall
Thursday, February 19 Cambridge, Corn Exchange
Friday, February 20 Brighton, Brighton Dome Concert Hall29 New Road, BN1 NUEPhone: 01273 70047
Saturday, February 21 Bristol, Colston Hall Colston St., BS1 5AR
Priscilla Ahn video (forgive me for the quality of the recording. The format of the recording had to be changed in editing and it wasn’t so terrif
Monday, February 23 Amsterdam, ParadisoWeteringschans 6-8, 1017 SGPhone: 020 – 626 45 21 Fax: 020 – 622 27 21
Thursday, February 26 Paris, Alhambra
Friday, February 27 Utrecht, Tivoli
February 28 Amsterdam, ParadisoWeteringschans 6-8, 1017 SGPhone: 020 – 626 45 21 Fax: 020 – 622 27 21
Tuesday, March 03 Cologne, Stadtgarten
Tuesday, March 03 Hamburg, Uebel & Gefaehrkich
Thursday, March 05 Berlin, Festsaal Kreuzberg
Thank you to Priscilla Ahn for her time in talking about her CD, music and life as a musician.
Check out Priscilla on www.PriscillaAhn.com
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Her CD A GOOD DAY is available on Blue Note Records.
www.myspace.com/priscillaahn
