News From Hemifran December 2019

Hemifrån is an independent A&R, promotion and marketing company, based in the heart of Sweden, specializing in, what they call, “gut music” – The kind of music that you can feel in your gut, no matter what. Hemifran is promoting a lot of singer-songwriter, westcoast-pop, country, AOR and more. Here are featured some of their latest news – it is not all west coast, but dig into it!

Spottiswoode & His Enemies – Lost In The City

”Lost In The City”, Spottiswoode & His Enemies’ 7th album, is the band’s most ambitious song cycle to date, a giddy brew of jazz, chanson, rock, blues and minimalism. The music reflects the raw energy and sophistication of the city the band has called home for the last two decades. Whether joined by a string quartet, gospel infused backing vocals, a beefed up horn section or simply left to their own devices, the band is at its righteous best.

Spottiswoode’s stories of love and death in the Big Apple are peppered with selfportraits, landscapes and snippets of advice. His lyrics cover a broad emotional range, by turns self mocking, tormented, swaggering and elegiac. The English frontman has recently returned to his native London to raise his baby daughter. Is this his New York farewell?

The journey starts with a walk to the Hudson. The singer reflects on his life in Manhattan and stares across the river. “What do you see on the other side?”, chant the backing vocalists. “It’s not heaven”, he replies. “It’s just Hoboken”. Suddenly, what had started as a ballad for piano and strings erupts into a Springsteenesque rock anthem. A silly joke about New Jersey or a heartfelt meditation on life and death?

Dan Reed of WXPN explains, “They do something few bands can do, evoke real emotions, sometimes several different ones in a single song”. The video for ’Hoboken’ was premiered on the Paste Magazine website just ahead of the album’s New York release.

The 18 track adventure proclaims its jazz bona fides with a series of blistering and lyrical solos from Candace DeBartolo (sax) and Kevin Cordt (trumpet). Still, the band refuses to be pigeon holed. At any moment, Spottiswoode might turn down a rainy boulevard to meet a chamber quartet or encourage his Enemies to tear off the shackles and rock out. You can throw any quick elevator pitch straight out the 42nd floor window.

Spottiswoode & His Enemies are, Spottiswoode (vocals, guitar), John Young (bass), Tim Vaill (drums), Candace DeBartolo (saxophone), Kevin Cordt (trumpet), producer Riley McMahon (guitar, mandolin, glockenspiel), and Tony Lauria (piano, accordion, keyboards).

Special guests include Antoine Silverman (violin, Einstein On The Beach), Martha Redbone (backing vocals), Sara Jacovino (trombone).

Referred to as a “genius” and a “downtown ringleader” by The New Yorker, Spottiswoode

is the son of an American opera singer and an English clergyman. WNYC’s John Schaefer describes him as “one of New York’s more colorful band leaders for more than a decade”. His songs have been featured in a wide variety of television shows and films (’She’s Out Of My League’, ’A Street Cat Named Bob’,’ The Ledge’, ’Bloodline’, ’Secret Circle’, ’Kingdom’).

Spottiswoode’s award winning gothic rock opera, ’Above Hell’s Kitchen’, was recently presented to sold-out crowds at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. His New York screenplay, ’Either Side Of Midnight, is currently being made into a feature film. Principal photography was completed in November 2019. The film is helmed by the veteran director, Roger Spottiswoode (’Tomorrow Never Dies’, ’Under Fire’, ’Shake Hands With The Devil’). Remarkably, the two Spottiswoode’s are not related! More information at Hemifran.

Jaron Reid Ravensky – I Can´t Take The Darkness Anymore

Jaron Reid Raven^sky, born of the prairies on the vast Alberta, Canada, vista. His 1st nation heritage echoing clearly on “Black Crow Cloud” and “Broken Down“. Gifted with a beautiful voice, a singer of charm, dignity and empathy, with a deep self felt comprehension of pain and the raunchy side of being. Jaron’s latest double CD, a serious, long time in completion, delivers the true artist he has become.
 
Jaron, gifted on the piano and guitar, his passion, since he first heard notes of music at an early age. Influenced by the likes of Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Jaron, unsigned, roamed the bars and clubs of Europe, paying his dues with his  love of performing. Over the last few years, he has awed audiences young and old throughout Europe, including, Norway, Switzerland, and Ireland. His deep talent lead him to performing around the Caribbean, as well, years of some settling’s downs, some out times, and a seasoning of his abilities.
 
In 2016 the album started its conception in the cold winter in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, at the CCM Studio. 3 serious renowned American musicians laid the instrumental tracks supporting his music on this epic double CD. There followed a week of additional input from a group of talented Canadians. Some things just take time. An Italian break, an island decision to record the vocals again and mix at the Prairie Sun Studio in California of Tom Waits history. Additional tracks and vocals in Edmontone Studio. The end of 2017, Matt Wright mixed all 25 songs at Prairie Sun Studio. Another hiatus arrived. Those years, some settlings downs, some out times, a bit wiser.
 
Finally, time arrived for the mix tweaking by Matt Wright, the mastering of the double album by Ken Lee, this fall 2019 in California, USA. Yes, 25 songs, a stunning 16 page booklet, in the old fashion way, pull him back on the road. Born to it, with his name Jaron meaning ‘sing out’. The pulse of the vocal gift to transport, enhance and heal his audience with his shaman soul whether intimately in a small club to the larger stage as opening act in Casino, Paris, this life capability for his music to find it’s way into the secret places of the soul, a utopia gut jarring double album.
 
The artist delivers imposing songwriting in a spiritual rusty voice traversing the dark, commanding euphoria vibes on 25 songs. More information at Hemifran.