Kirsten Thien

The 'official' and unequivocal bio - Don't believe what you read about me in STAR and US. It's just not true. --------------------------------- Who truly understands inspiration? It comes in as many varieties as music itself, and it leaves when its wants. All you can do is follow where it leads. Inspiration for Kirsten Thien arrived one lazy Sunday morning in the East Village, and she was ready. Whether it was the Fender Telecaster in the corner yearning for attention, or simply the after effects of too much mischief the night before, Thien tumbled into a creative wave one September morning, and rode it all the way to the release of her second album, You’ve Got Me. “It almost never happens that a song comes as quickly and completely as “You’ve Got Me” did,” she says. “But when the craft rewards you with something like that, you listen and follow.”Thien has been listening since the end of her college days when, set to graduate from Georgetown University with a degree in finance, she finally gave in to her passion and understood what her life was supposed to be about. She blew off the interviews that had been arranged with investment banks and started her own band. Eventually, her path pulled her to New York, where she funded her music with a secure and stable office job. “I was sinking every dime from my day job into recordings and doing shows around New York,” she says. “But I realized I wasn’t really dedicating myself to music and songwriting.” So she went for it. She quit the job and hit the road.Thien toured up and down the East Coast, first as a duo and later with her band. The road gave her the chance to take a breath of fresh air and infuse it into her songs, both old and new – expanding her set list. And it provided her with material for her new album. “You’ve Got Me is pretty much a relationship album, but it’s not just about me and my own relationships,” she says. “When you’re constantly meeting new people, their experiences affect you, beg to be written about.” As a result, songs on You’ve Got Me run the gamut, from the upbeat “See You Again”, to the subdued “Is This the Love”—from the optimism of “Starting Today”, to the longing of “You’re Not Mine.”Thien oversaw the production of the album while creating a supporting cast of proven musicians which included Erik Boyd on bass and co-production (Mama and the Papas), Marc Muller as producer and on guitar (Shania Twain, Steve Forbert), Tommy Mandel on keyboards and Hammond B3 (The Pretenders, Dire Straits), and Steve Holley on drums (Wings and Dar Williams.) Even members of The New West Horns (The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin) contributed by writing the horn arrangements on the album.As a follow up to her 2001 debut, She Really Is, Thien’s new album displays the breadth of her influences. Blues, soul, rock and even disco are all apparent in the eleven tracks on You’ve Got Me. The new album also demonstrates her growth as a songwriter. “We didn’t take as many chances on the first album,” she says. “But on You’ve Got Me, I took a completely different approach. From the start, I wanted to take risks, let songs take us where they wanted to. It was so liberating.”