Amy Antin

Amy Antin
Heart of Clay
Date of release: 05-25-07
Distributor: edel contraire
901003 HER

Amy, now that's cool!

What a nice surprise! After two beautiful albums, both somewhat difficult to access, if only for their being highly introverted - these being, namely, "Ain't Cut To Measure" (1997) and "Pretty Little Girl" (2000) – Amy Antin, a citizen of Cologne (Germany) by choice, surprises us with the utmost peaceful, thoroughly unobtrusive and yet still so deeply moving "Heart of Clay".

There are songs in the world that are badly in need of attention. They push their way into our ears, into our lives and they want to be noticed. These are not necessarily bad songs, but they are also not the most lasting ones. Lasting are the songs that manage to get along without us, that do not use force, that can do it all on their own, that like themselves without getting smug about it. Songs that are present, whether or not we listen to them, whether we nod our heads or not. Songs that already are in their - yes, I dare to use this big word – illustriousness and sovereignty. Every note is exactly at its proper place. Not one too many. Just right. No unnecessary fuss that demands our attention. Only the purest essence. Reduction. And that's how they have turned out, these songs on "Heart of Clay" – due to the wonderful singer/songwriter talents of Amy Antin, due to the clever production by Josef Piek, along with excellent contribution by the many hand-picked musicians.

• Press material download this info.  
• AmyAntin.de all about Heart Of Clay - listen, lyrics and more  

And here we may find one of the main differences between this and the previous albums. Earlier on, there was but the 'lady with her guitar and her songs'. Now, however, the founder of the concert series 'room' is accompanied by the finest of the Cologne music scene, and has allowed her songs to shine in such melodic and instrumental brilliance, that even the sad songs go down smoothly.

"Everything that was in excess, whether on the level of solo– or teamwork, was cut out", says Amy, and she reports that the production was not just a stroll in the garden. At still all that work, one that stretched over a good half year's time, was worth it in the long run. Also the fact that, prior to the recordings, part-time singing teacher Amy herself went back to take vocal lessons and learned to let her whole body to 'sing along with her', that she struggled with and even at times fought against Josef for a given measure, an intro or outro, or that the musicians discretely take themselves very far back in order to attain what one could call chambermusical finesse – all of that was fully worth it. "Heart of Clay" has no boring passages, not one superfluous minute and please, when has one been able to say that about any album lately? Okay, "Modern Times" from Dylan has this quality, the better albums from James Taylor have this richness, and also one or two albums of later Steely Dan could be added to the list... />[more info for download]

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