Member Since: 23/01/2007
Band Website: www.sweetdreamrecording.com
Band Members: Dead End Armory, Frank Hopkins, Travis Cyr, Katrina Abramo, Steven Williams, Line Of Force, Lindsey Ray, Marion Grace, Rae Hebert, Michael Hirsch, Aron Werman, Dominic and The Lucid, Subject Bias, Heavy Dime, Brent Avato and the Management, Old Iron Inn Music Series, Strange Pleasure, Doug Emery, Heather and Nancy, Bayroots, Drilling Heartwood, Seth Werman, Black Eagle, The Grumps, Jaye Drew, Statistical Density, Double Bunny, Logical Project, Chuck Muldoon, Soma Toast, David Rynhart, Dan Knudsen, Eliza Sproul, Kevin Attra and Ronda Dale, Adam and the Waxmen, Jesse Frayne, and more...
Influences: from portland phoenix music critic Sam Pfeifle, 01-24-07
“By comparison, Abramo’s release is a mega-EP, at eight songs, and her sound has none of the pop bounce of Romanoff’s. Rather, she hails from a more melancholy dream state, like a mix of Tanya Donnelly and Sarah McLachlan. On her opening “Barely Here,†she even pulls off the downbeat shuffle that Patty Griffin nailed with “Making Pies,†with an acoustic guitar strum break that’s mixed perfectly by Frank Hopkins so that it’s brought forward on parallel with a loping organ line.
Hopkins is all over this album, actually, providing a crucial piano sound that adds atmosphere to “Days Go By†and “Drive,†propping up a particularly warm vocal turn in the former and sashaying with his own lap steel in the latter. At times in these songs, Abramo approaches the emotional depth that indie heroes like Low’s Mimi Parker and Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval used to bring pathos to ultra-laconic song arrangements. She tries to do something more playful with “Bed Full of Sand,†and isn’t far from Toad the Wet Sprocket’s “Walk on the Ocean,†but the pacing doesn’t play to her strengths and it comes off like touchy-feely spinster folk.
She’s best when she retains an indie aesthetic, which Hopkins and drummer Joe Gouzie sometimes provide with some interesting percussion, or when she mines the Americana vein, as with the ultra-slow honky-tonk waltz of “Things that I like.â€
That maybe wouldn’t play well on American Idol, but it sure plays nice in my CD player.â€
Sounds Like: you, just really crisp and yet warm and organic and present at the same time.
Record Label: Sweet Sweet Music
Type of Label: Indie