Lygia Ferra
Strange Peculiar
© 2003 Siren Girl Records (656613596128)
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Moody, expressive, and breathtakingly beautiful - ranges wide on Strange Peculiar, inhabiting diverse worlds over a fresh weave of musical styles. Described by an admiring A&R guy as "Edie Brickell meets David Bowie"
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Born to bohemian parents who named her after an Edgar Allen Poe short story, Lygia spent part of her childhood in Tehran, Iran and part in Berkeley, California. Early musical sensibilities were shaped by her parents' collection of Persian music and Billie Holiday records. At age sixteen she lived in New York City's Hell's Kitchen and made ends meet by passing out flyers for the Woman's Martial Arts Center.
here she won a dance scholarship to the East Harlem School of Music and spent additional years studying music, art, and acting. Later, adrift between East Hollywood and a coffee farm in Hawaii, Lygia worked as a go-go girl, karaoke hostess, lingerie model, and fortune teller.
A wide-ranging vocal stylist, Lygia's gigs have included performing in Dahran, Saudi Arabia while wearing red spandex; singing Tina Turner covers in a bar in Macon, Georgia; a one-woman show at the Alliance Francaise Art Festival in San Francisco; and performing at a drag bar in Provincetown, MA. More mainstream gigs include a duet with Jerry Garcia, a stint at CBGB's in NYC, a set at the 1994 JVC Concord Jazz Festival, and a recent benefit in Los Angeles where she shared the stage with Sheila E. and Brenda Russell.
Aside from numerous children's music tracks for Music for Little People; and a variety of commercial-radio and movie soundtrack productions, including vocalese and singing in five different languages. Lygia was one of 20 finalists (out of 800 submissions) at the 1999 San Francisco Lilith Fair Talent Search contest Album credits include Santana's Milagro (Polygram) and, most recently, the Berlin-based Yulara's Cosmic Tree (EMD/Virgin/Higher Octave).
Strange Peculiar is a thouroughly grass-roots project involving more than 25 musicians, both well-known and unknown, including Micheal Manring (Micheal Hedges, Primus), Micheal Masley (Garbage, Ry Cooder, Tom Waits), Eric Bebow
(SwitchBlade Symphony, Paula Cole), Cameron Stowe (Poe, Donna Dolorean), Van Sprogins (Paula Cole, Missing Persons), Quique Cruz (Jackson Browne, Sting), and Gigi Gonawi (Mariah Carey). Most of the mixing was done by Erik Hawkins (Digital Underground, Jupiter Sons) and the mastering was handled by Eddie Schreyer (Fiona Apple, Eric Clapton, Ben Harper).
The making of Strange Peculiar was truly a labor of love. For over a year, Lygia traveled back and forth between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, from one makeshift studio to another, carrying an old ADAT 8-track recorder in her backpack and a picnic basket full of tapes. Lygia wrote, arranged, and produced all 13 songs, working one-on-one with different musicians and engineers, and crashing afterwards wherever she could find a spot to roll out her sleeping bag.
The finished songs boast a wide-ranging, eclectic blend of instruments, from the usual bass, drums, and guitar to the more unusual, such as cymbalom, bass kalimba, dobro, cello, viola, ukelele, mandolin, Hammond B3, and gobek (a percussion instrument that combines a miniature dumbek with an East Indian gopichand).
As Lygia says in the title track, "It's a curious ride/when you dare to break the rules/and normal just won't do."
reviews
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- author: Anna Dabney
Lygeia, I always knew you had it in you! Very beautiful recording. Please e-mail me. You can find my listing under A Dabney. Great to see you thriving! Anna
Superb!!
author: MarySince I bought this CD I can't stop playing it, it's just plain great. You don't hear this kind of stuff on the radio; it's unique, artistic, and you can hear the artistry in every song. Lygia is magnificent. Falling like Rain is sensual, intense, powerful, beautiful!!!!!!!
I had to send another......
author: Dave CarnesThe more I listen to this CD, the more I absolutely LOVE it! Lygia really hit a sound all of her own with this one! Falling Like Rain is incredible!!!!!!
Appropriate CD Title!
author: Dave CarnesThis CD is innovative, capturing, and a nice blend of older and newer musical trends. Great job!
- author: Charles D. Hand
I discovered Lygia Ferra While researching the name Ltgia.Found Strange Peculiar on cdbaby. I listened to it, fascinated, I had to buy it. This was only the second recording I bought on impulse in all my 73 years.
Outstandingly done. Very nice and compelling.Killer vocals
author: TJ TierneyInsightful and syncopated sureal lyrics.Professes a colorful and poetic grasp of the human element.Vocals transend the the production.(Lygia sings like a magnetic ANGEL)She makes you want more.Very cool digs sauted with a sensual grove.Tasty bass but not over done. VERY NICE buy it now.A real labor of love!!!
- author: CD Baby
The conviction of Alanis Morrisette but blanketed in flannel, like a cross with Bird York; the sassy, penetrating style of Sheryl Crow but with more sonicism and the sweetness of Edie Brickell; the magic for mood of Tori Amos or Sarah McLachlan but with a more clearly-defined spine. This moody, sometimes dark, sometimes dazzling, friendly but proud pop collection is one that will bring out your needs to hoard and be possessive when it comes to letting people borrow your CDs. This is one that not only satisfies from the first listen but whets your appetite so completely that it's hard to predict if saturation is possible.
Hard to predict if saturation is ever possible.
author: Tamara Turner, CD BabyThe conviction of Alanis Morrisette but blanketed in flannel, like a cross with Bird York; the sassy, penetrating style of Sheryl Crow but with more sonicism and the sweetness of Edie Brickell; the magic for mood of Tori Amos or Sarah McLachlan but with a more clearly-defined spine. This moody, sometimes dark, sometimes dazzling, friendly but proud pop collection is one that will bring out your needs to hoard and be possessive when it comes to letting people borrow your CDs. This is one that not only satisfies from the first listen but whets your appetite so completely that it's hard to predict if saturation is possible.
One of my favourite albums in a long time
author: Robert NielWhat connects a moth fairy, silly putty and a blow up doll? Quite simply, it’s the strange peculiar dream-like world of Lygia Ferra. Discovering her album for the first time was a serious of happy coincidences and I’m so glad that I did. One song in particular (‘Circus of Love’) reminded me of the artist Michelle Shocked and as well as Edie Brickell (who’s previously been mentioned), Lygia also reminds me a less ‘hormonal’ Alanis Morissette with sparser lyrics – and that can only be a good thing! Essentially though, she deserves to be put on a pedestal all of her own – my favourite song tends to change, so to me that’s the sign of a good album. Right now though, it is probably ‘Coming undone’ because it's one of the more laid-back tracks and for the mood it evokes whenever I hear it. Meanwhile check out the song available to listen to on the MP3.com web-site called ‘Out of the ordinary’ (- just do a search for Lygia Ferra). It’s not on the album, but still sounds great and is not to be missed. Quite simply, it rocks! In the end, I decided to give her current album 4 stars (out of 5) because I believe it only dares to hint at Lygia’s future potential as an artist. If you can’t tell, I really love this album so just buy it ok? :-)
- author: Reviewer Magazine-San Diego
.."The 13-song release from California singer/songwriter/artist Lygia Ferra blends lush, eclectic arrangements with pure, beautiful vocals. Think Ricky Lee Jones’ smarts, Tori Amos’ honesty and Kate Bush’s artistry and you start to get it. But make no mistake – Ferra’s music is unique and inspired in its own way, making its way to the top without comparison"
Worth the purchace
author: Mariko FrostThis is a good cd. I keep falling in love with different songs on it. "Falling like rain" is my current fav. There are times when I feel the lyrics could be better, but she sings them like a siren. Definately worth the purchace. I think she's like Annie Lennox meets Sheryl Crow meets David Bowie.