Back To Artist
Astrid : Red Umbrella
Log in to add to your wishlist
Global_Retro/Bossa/ Urban Jazz-Chill beats with smooth vocals (global lounge Pop)
Genre: Easy Listening: Lounge
Release Date: 2005
Red Umbrella
Astrid
Record Label: ASTRID
  • Buy CD - $12.97
  • Download Album (MP3) - $15.00
SPECIAL: 10% discount if you buy more than one copy of it today!

Share This Album

| Share
Preview Song Name Time Buy
1. The Key 3:45 + MP3 $0.99
2. Turn me loose 4:19 + MP3 $0.99
3. Spinoff 6:17 + MP3 $0.99
4. I dunno yet 4:09 + MP3 $0.99
5. Heart 5:47 + MP3 $0.99
6. Red Umbrella 4:30 + MP3 $0.99
7. You gave me wonder 4:43 + MP3 $0.99
8. Eyes of Abraham 5:48 + MP3 $0.99
9. Running home 5:00 + MP3 $0.99
10. The Key (REPRISE) 0:34 + MP3 $0.99
11. Guy in the 3rd row 4:02 + MP3 $0.99
preview all songs

Album Notes

With the release of her debut album Red Umbrella, Astrid introduces a genuine fusion of Bossa/Pop/Jazz and Chill, and reveals herself as an artist with a style and sound of her own.

"This album is very important to me. It's my debut album and three of the compositions are remixes of recordings I did about five years ago, they never really made it out into the world at that time. They were important to me so we did a remix of them and added them to the more recent songs. One of the remixes is an instrumental composition Eyes of Abraham which I composed for my dad."

Red Umbrella was produced by Kerry Galloway and co-produced by Astrid.

Born and raised in the Netherlands, Astrid developed her musical sensibilities early with the support of her father, well known conductor Wim Sars. He played organ and conducted Gregorian masses in cathedrals, and at a young age Astrid sang in her father's church choirs along with her two sisters. Listening to jazz and Brazilian music with her parents at home also profoundly influenced her style.

Over the years Astrid has built on her musical background, successfully creating a unique sound. She is a charismatic vocalist and versatile, skilled performer playing alto sax and flute. She has performed and collaborated with many great Canadian and European musicians, and some of her music has been featured in film, documentaries and dance productions.

In 2000 Astrid co-founded The Ironworks, a production space in a beautiful heritage building in Vancouver, Canada. There she has organized multiple events: spoken word shows, singer-songwriter events, and several music series featuring local, national and international artists. Astrid contributes to ongoing art exhibits at The Ironworks, which is also a favored shooting location by the film industry.

Besides having just finished her debut CD Red Umbrella and performing with her band, Astrid also performs with New York poet Leanne Averbach in Vancouver, Toronto and New York.


"Her music is filled with passion, her stage presence exciting...really quite something to watch."
~Alfie Zappacosta

Read more...

REVIEWS

Prisoners may apply within.
author: Samantha, Calgary AB
                            
Astrid will hold you captive with evocative lyrics and her sultry voice.  You will be a willing hostage.

                            Read more...
A very hip recording
author: The Vancouver Sun - Queue - by Mark Andrews
                            
Astrid Sars, who prefers a one name moniker, describes her debut CD as "Global-Retro/Bossa, Urban Jazz/Chill with Smooth Vocals" which pretty much covers all bases. It is also a very hip recording, one which should find a good cross-section audience of young and old-school listeners.

As a vocalist, Astrid is kind of a cross between Bebel Gilberto and Sade: she'd be at home at a Brazilian carnival or an urban lounge. For the samba-beat Running Home, she lays down a silk-edged vocal as Kerry Galloway plays a Brazilian-style acoustic guitar (Galloway, who arranged and produced the record double-tracks guitar and bass on many of the songs, all of which were written by Astrid). She gives Heart a bluesy, chanteuse treatment, and utilizes electronic vocal manipulation for the easy moving Spinoff. Keyboards player Chris Gestrin and Cellist Finn Manniche combine beautifully on the ballad Turn me Loose.

Besides singing Astrid is also accomplished as an alto saxophonist and flutist, her alto sax just right for the slow-groove Eyes of Abraham, and her flute helping to propel You Gave Me Wonder.

                            Read more...
...the Netherlands-born chanteuse, alto saxophonist, and songwriter delivers
author: The Globe and Mail - Going Out: Music - BY TONY MONTAGUE
                            
MAY 27, 2005 -- Smooth vocals, sultry ambience -- On the cover of her just-released debut CD Red Umbrella, Astrid describes her music as "global-retro/bossa, urban-jazz chill." That's a lot to promise. Fortunately the Netherlands-born chanteuse, alto saxophonist and songwriter delivers... Astrid is one of the more experienced artists on the local jazz-lounge scene, and her recording is a sophisticated stylistic blend, characterized by tight arrangements, smooth vocals and sultry ambience...Red Umbrella's title track, a medium-paced ballad about how small acts of generosity can transform the way you view the world. Astrid sings it in a breathy voice that's halfway between Bebel Gilberto and Marlene Dietrich, in an arrangement that has an appropriately urban flavour.

                            Read more...
Sell your music on CD Baby and iTunes! Minimize this Tab Open this Tab