Singer/Songwriter

ALISA AMADOR’S NEW SINGLE “TIMING” PREMIERES VIA AMERICAN SONGWRITER   DEBUT MINI-ALBUM NARRATIVES OUT ON SEPTEMBER 17TH

ALISA AMADOR’S NEW SINGLE “TIMING” PREMIERES  

VIA AMERICAN SONGWRITER   

DEBUT MINI-ALBUM NARRATIVES OUT ON SEPTEMBER 17TH 

Photo credit: Jacquelyn Marie

Photo credit: Jacquelyn Marie

LISTEN: “TIMING”   

Today, Boston-based artist Alisa Amador unveils “Timing,” the groove-laden lead single from her forthcoming mini-album Narratives, set for release on September 17th. Lively, optimistic, and wry, the song addresses the frustrating yet exciting realization that you’ve found love, but the timing is off. “Alisa Amador sings with the ease of someone who has been performing for the entirety of her life—and she nearly has,” said American Songwriter in the track’s premiere. “The singer/songwriter first took the stage at the age of five as a backup singer for her parents’ bilingual Latin folk band Sol y Canto. She later picked up the classical guitar, and then the electric guitar, to begin cultivating a sound that was uniquely hers.”  

Amador, who describes “Timing” as “50% cynical, 50% hopeful, and 100% fun to groove to,” wrote the song after meeting a special someone. Spirited drums and horns frame her big voice in a chorus that playfully asserts “I’m getting tired of being right/why am I right again?” Of the song she says, ”I knew that the connection was right, but I could sense that the timing wasn’t. It had happened with almost every relationship I had been in, and I was getting tired of that predicament,” she continues. “This song became a way of letting out my frustrations, processing the relationship, and ultimately a song for tuning back in: with my intuition and with my love for myself.”  

Alisa Amador is a connector. Her upcoming mini-album, Narratives, is a six-song snapshot in time. It’s a deep look at a person stumbling through life in two languages—English and Spanish—and in many states of mind about it all. Her crystal-clear vocals are so effortless throughout Narratives that it’s almost easy to forget how technically talented she is, until she moves from almost-spoken-word territory to a powerful chorus without hesitation or illustrates a repetitive refrain that’s so affecting it feels like you might want to live inside it for a little while.  

“The word ‘narratives’ encompasses not only the existing cultural messages that hurt people individually and collectively,” she says, “but also the revolutionary power of writing ourselves new narratives; rejecting a culture of fear; and catalyzing a culture of honesty, bravery and self-love in the process.”  

When listening to Amador’s music, her time spent immersed in Latin folk and jazz is undoubtedly present in her own songs, written in both English and Spanish. But there is also pop, funk, soul, and something uniquely her own. Her specialty is sparking connection, across both listeners and musical styles. Working with producer Daniel Radin (The Novel Ideas, Future Teens), Narratives concentrates on the journey of Amador’s live set, taking listeners through songs that may elicit a laugh, bring introspection, offer a cathartic cry or encourage a sing-along.  

The genre-bending effort is as empowering as it is heart-wrenching. These songs  explore themes of romance and heartbreak, of chaos and healing, exposing systems of oppression and shining a light on the intricacies of the human condition. They might break your heart open, but by the end, it will be mended, uplifted and stronger—a ‘Life and Love Survival Kit' in the form of a bilingual EP.  

“These songs are a reflection of the world I am moving through, with all of its joy, its sorrow, its confusion and its rage,: she reveals. “Each song is a processing of personal experience, framed within my larger cultural backdrop of New Englander, Latinx, cis-gendered woman, young adult, twin, daughter, and so on. I’m just trying to create a space for myself and all my conflicting identities to fit in, and it seems like I’m helping listeners feel the same way in the process.”  Click HERE to pre-order Narratives.  

NARRATIVES TRACK LIST  

TIMING 

SLOW DOWN 

BURNT AND BROKEN 

ALONE 

NADA QUE VER 

TOGETHER 

 

CONNECT WITH ALISA AMADOR:   

WEBSITE || FACEBOOK || INSTAGRAM || BANDCAMP || YOUTUBE || SPOTIFY   

NATALIE SCHLABS PREMIERES NEW SINGLE “HOME IS YOU” & ANNOUNCES NEW LP "DON’T LOOK TOO CLOSE" SET FOR RELEASE ON OCTOBER 16TH

PHOTO: FAIRLIGHT HUBBARD

PHOTO: FAIRLIGHT HUBBARD

Singer/songwriter Natalie Schlabs has announced her forthcoming album Don’t Look Too Close,  due out October 16th, with the release of lead single “Home Is You.” The song was co-written with Bekah Ham and features backing vocals from Katie Herzig. “Romantic, timeless love songs are great, but what about other kinds of love? Best friends, childhood neighbors, brothers and sisters, a mentor and mentee, family. This is just the kind of angle singer-songwriter Natalie Schlabs poses in many of her songs, including her latest, “Home Is You,” said American Songwriter in its premiere of the track, inspired by that person who is your “person.” “Schlabs’ voice possesses an audible kindness to it, that allows her to carry her performance with the calmness and sincerity necessary to portray a song crafted on the kind of love that overreaches any one type of relationship.” “Home Is You”

LISTEN: “HOME IS YOU”

The nine tracks that comprise Don’t Look Too Close, the second full-length effort from the Texas-bred Nashville-based artist, live in the tension between the beauty and heartbreak surrounding our closest relationships. The songs were written when Schlabs was pregnant with her first child, which caused a lot of reflection on her own upbringing and how she wanted to raise him. The album’s title came from the idea that "he’s going to see all the worst of me, be hurt by the worst of me, as much as I don’t want him to, and, as much as I want to be the best for him. I was thinking about how to raise a child, how to pass down values. There’s a dismantling of what I thought I knew,” she explains. “What do I value in my life and where did those things come from? What do I want to share with my children and what do I want to spare them from?” 

The tracks on Don’t Look Too Close traverse the spectrum of feelings that tend to coincide with love, from bittersweet consideration of “the wilderness caused by depression or illness” in “See What I See,” to the haunting gentleness of “Ophelia,” written for a friend who lost her daughter. The title track addresses the everyday aches and pains people tend to hide from loved ones, and reflects on love’s blindness, how “sometimes the ones you love will never know how much you love them.” The album as a whole represents a place, a time, and a pocket of feelings that are as distinctly human as they are beautiful. “Growing up surrounded by family in the flatlands, there’s not a whole lot going on outside of the people. The climate is extreme, and isolation binds you to the people around you. Everyone’s in each other’s business, and you learn that love can go in many directions. Sometimes it’s about solidarity and sacrifice, sometimes it’s obsessive or painful,” Schlabs says. “This record is about navigating those feelings within our closest relationships.”

Don’t Look Too Close steps into indie territory with a compelling mix of instrumentation laced with solo vocals that bloom into easy, delicate harmonies. Co-produced by Juan Solorzano and Zachary Dyke, with Caleb Hickman on saxophone and Joshua Rogers on bass, the album swells and ebbs with elegant, absorbing shapes. The songs are moody, candid, and tender, each featuring Schlabs’ characteristically sleek vocals front-and-center, backed by charming instrumental moments that add form and depth to the melodies.

CONNECT WITH NATALIE SCHLABS:

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