Esther Rose Parkes

"JERSEY GIRL: ESTHER ROSE PARKES; ROCK and ROLL REDEMPTION
FROM THE CHANNEL ISLES"
You know who you are. A deeply devoted music fan searching the fallow landscape, the void, the papier mache facade, the roomful of mirrors that reflects the dull aspects of the many ways we've watched new music beget itself again and again into a crackle of dissolute white noise; searching for a life line, a glimmer, a speck, AN ALBUM! A real life record that one can listen to again and again and learn and cherish. A record with real songs and real musicians and a voice so raw and intimate it makes one feel almost shy in it's presence. You've dreamed of a parallel universe where NICK DRAKE and SANDY DENNY are alive and well and bold and young and still making music. Where DUSTY SPRINGFIELD collaborates with THE STONES and PHOEBE SNOW jams with PINK FLLOYD. Where JONI MITCHELL made just one more artfolk record before she jumped through the hoop into jazzland. Where the THE ROCHES still play afternoons at CBGB's and MARY CLAYTON joins in. With her debut album, ESTHER ROSE PARKES satisfies the weary with a modern classic. From the Channel Island of Jersey comes a mystical new talent whose vocals convey a shudder inducing vulnerability and raw Brit soul power. Discovered by Singer MARIA MCKEE while she was teaching a songwriting course at the Arvon Foundation in the UK , Parkes was then invited to come to Los Angeles to record an album at McKee and husband JIM AKIN'S studio, Viewfinder. Stopped at customs in Ohio because of a Visa mixup she was interrogated, fingerprinted and sent home. After about a week, the shock and disappointment gave way to a plan to record via email, and the album was then back on schedule and recorded remotely. Using McKee's band THE XANTIMISFITS (including Producer and Engineer Akin on bass) to record basic tracks alongside Parkes' acoustic performances, the album has a live studio feel that belies it's postdigital inception. Akin's classic rock production has a timeless gutpunch that recalls LED ZEPPELIN and CRAZY HORSE. Joining drummer TOM DUNNE and guitarist JERRY ANDREWS (who manages to channel both SLASH and RICHARD THOMPSON!) is McKee on piano, who also lends her voice to some chilling gospel choir back-ups and some vintage Bowie-esque bopping. Upon my first listen through to the album, as the unsettling, epic and stark soul-bearing brilliance of the closing track, "THE PAINT NEVR DRIES" came to it's achingly unresolved emotional and musical climax, I thought to myself, "Man, I wish JOHN PEEL were still alive to hear this!" Thank God we are.

THEODRE GASCOINE, LOS ANGELES, MAY 21, 2009
"Esther Rose Parkes is a timeless artist who brings to mind the intrinsically English mysticism of Nick Drake and Sandy Denny combined with the soulful wisdom of Dusty Springfield and Phoebe Snow. Her songs are haunting and intimate, her vocals are complex and rich. There is a gravity to her work that will nourish those of us who have grown weary searching for the sustenance that most contemporary singer/songwriters fail to provide. I'm looking very much forward to a long journey with an artist who will deepen and grow and challenge the listener for many years to come."

Maria McKee, February 2008
Having supported Maria McKee, Joan Armatrading and Nerina Pallot in concert Esther has just finished recording her debut album with LA based Viewfinder Records, working with Jim Akin and Maria McKee. More on its release very soon!
Esther has been collaborating with FalenizzaHorsePower since December 2008