Album Notes

More Real Than This

Julia Albert is back. After leaving L.A. indie rockers, The Maxfield Rabbit, she took stock of her career, and decided to make a no-compromises, look'em-straight-in-the-eye CD5 that leaves no doubt that now she's making art on her own terms.

From the starkly naked opening phrase, "There's nothing more real than this," to the lush orchestral backdrop supporting the final phrase, "I can't get warm when you're not near me," this record pulls no punches. The songs run the gamut of emotions associated with love--not just being or falling in or out of love, but rather love in a larger context. She's working hard at being Zen while falling in love in Remember To Breathe, which seems to be the alpha and the omega of her journey. She wonders if she made the right decision by letting go in If We Try. She goes to great lengths to make it perfectly clear to the guy in the hilariously ironic Can You Tell that he's never on her mind. She puts on her brave face despite her fear that she's better off alone in Little Blows. She sings of a beauty that words cannot describe in Don't Speak. At that point it makes sense to spin the disc again because she's logically taken us full circle to the sensuous woman who has "finally found the real thing" but can't remember to relax and take a deep breath. This stuff is real.

Julia's debut as a solo artist on Fresh Baked Music is a collaboration with the production team of rising star Urban Olsson and modern rock veteran Michael James. While writing the first songs for More Real Than This, Albert and James made a point of recording their rough sessions in order to fully capture the vibe and intention behind each song. With the help and vision of Olsson, who was initially brought in to play bass, the music started to fully evolve. Urban pushed the two toward a fresh sound that puts Julia's emotionally charged vocals right up front, over compelling tracks that combine both organic and manipulated sounds. Olsson, singer/bassist of European power trio Blend, and James, who has recorded with artists ranging from Hole and Jane's Addiction to New Radicals and Robben Ford, played nearly every instrument on the record, and created a unique sound that draws from influences as diverse as Wilco, Motown and Gershwin.

More Real Than This is an honest, intimate introduction to the musical world of Julia Albert.