Leave On the Lights
发行时间:2010-10-29
发行公司:CD Baby
简介: Australian singer/songwriter Henry Hall’s debut album Leave on the Lights is a diverse and uplifting soul journey that began in Sydney, Australia, traversed the globe through Europe and then onto Colombia, South America before continuing north into the United States.
The Sydney-based guitarist and singer first turned the soil on his career in his native Australia, plying his crafted songs in the dimly lit corners of pubs and bars to the hardened regulars. He recorded some demo versions of newly written songs with Cruel Sea bassist Ken Gormley, but even so, something was eluding Henry, and it was time to move on.
“I had all these songs floating around inside my head and it just wasn't happening for me in Australia. So I packed up all my stuff, grabbed my guitar and headed overseas to open up some doors on a different life perspective. Spent a couple of years in Europe and eventually stumbled into South America.”
With just a plane ticket and a guitar, Hall shook the dust of Sydney off his feet and went abroad to feast on the traveler’s privilege of love, heartache and watching the sun rise. It wasn’t until his journey took him to the town of Cali, Colombia, that the path suddenly became clear. A fortuitous meeting with a local personality/guitarist led him to the New York City recording studio of Juan Pablo Mantilla.
“I was traveling through Colombia and I met this guy playing in a bakery in Cali. He was good so I hung around. He ended up asking me to play. So I did. He invited me back to his place and I played some more, for hours. His reaction was electric. It turned out he was a renowned musician. He said I had to go to New York. It seemed like fate tapping at the window, so I went.”
The album Leave On The Lights was recorded during Hall’s three months in New York period, Hall stepped through ankle-deep snow from a barely-converted Brooklyn warehouse where he was staying. The album was recorded at Soundscribe Studios on Broadway, with musicians like guitarist Thad DeBrock (Aimee Mann), drummer John Clancy and bassist Malcolm Gold (Sheryl Crow, Garth Hudson), Cuban percussion avatar Marvin Diz and keyboardist Daniel Mintseris, who has worked with the likes of Teddy Thompson and Marianne Faithfull.
Given the calibre of Hall’s songs and the pedigree of the musicians brought together by producer Mantilla, it’s no wonder the album sounds as alive and warm as it does. From the suffocated static that announces the opener ‘On The Radio’ or the gentle swirl of backwards guitars that introduces the protagonist of ‘Broken Mirrors’ – ‘You say you like broken mirrors/they make you look just how you feel’.
“This album is all about love going right, love gone wrong and love some place in the middle,” explains Hall. “It freezes moments in time that we can all relate to. I guess the title Leave on the Lights is about hope, a bit of a reaction to the beige PC world we could easily become. And, of course, sex.”
Australian singer/songwriter Henry Hall’s debut album Leave on the Lights is a diverse and uplifting soul journey that began in Sydney, Australia, traversed the globe through Europe and then onto Colombia, South America before continuing north into the United States.
The Sydney-based guitarist and singer first turned the soil on his career in his native Australia, plying his crafted songs in the dimly lit corners of pubs and bars to the hardened regulars. He recorded some demo versions of newly written songs with Cruel Sea bassist Ken Gormley, but even so, something was eluding Henry, and it was time to move on.
“I had all these songs floating around inside my head and it just wasn't happening for me in Australia. So I packed up all my stuff, grabbed my guitar and headed overseas to open up some doors on a different life perspective. Spent a couple of years in Europe and eventually stumbled into South America.”
With just a plane ticket and a guitar, Hall shook the dust of Sydney off his feet and went abroad to feast on the traveler’s privilege of love, heartache and watching the sun rise. It wasn’t until his journey took him to the town of Cali, Colombia, that the path suddenly became clear. A fortuitous meeting with a local personality/guitarist led him to the New York City recording studio of Juan Pablo Mantilla.
“I was traveling through Colombia and I met this guy playing in a bakery in Cali. He was good so I hung around. He ended up asking me to play. So I did. He invited me back to his place and I played some more, for hours. His reaction was electric. It turned out he was a renowned musician. He said I had to go to New York. It seemed like fate tapping at the window, so I went.”
The album Leave On The Lights was recorded during Hall’s three months in New York period, Hall stepped through ankle-deep snow from a barely-converted Brooklyn warehouse where he was staying. The album was recorded at Soundscribe Studios on Broadway, with musicians like guitarist Thad DeBrock (Aimee Mann), drummer John Clancy and bassist Malcolm Gold (Sheryl Crow, Garth Hudson), Cuban percussion avatar Marvin Diz and keyboardist Daniel Mintseris, who has worked with the likes of Teddy Thompson and Marianne Faithfull.
Given the calibre of Hall’s songs and the pedigree of the musicians brought together by producer Mantilla, it’s no wonder the album sounds as alive and warm as it does. From the suffocated static that announces the opener ‘On The Radio’ or the gentle swirl of backwards guitars that introduces the protagonist of ‘Broken Mirrors’ – ‘You say you like broken mirrors/they make you look just how you feel’.
“This album is all about love going right, love gone wrong and love some place in the middle,” explains Hall. “It freezes moments in time that we can all relate to. I guess the title Leave on the Lights is about hope, a bit of a reaction to the beige PC world we could easily become. And, of course, sex.”