Claudia Jane
Identity Crisis
© 2004 Claudia Jane Curran (626776754727)
CD IN STOCK. ORDER NOW. Will ship immediately.
SPECIAL: 30% discount if you buy more than one copy of it today!
Strong lyrics, new folk and progressive feel, dabbling in the experimental. Claudia Jane's first album has an earthy, organic base. Think: Joan Baez meets Edie Brickell meets Neko Case meets Melanie Safka.
tracks
try this
albums you will love
genres you will love
By Location
Recommended if you like ...
links
notes
Hi. I'm a singer-songwriter and I live in Ashland, Wis. This is my debut solo album, titled "Identity Crisis." I don't sound like a boy band or a pop diva. I've got my own progressive folk/ new folk/ free folk style (a good thing) that's inspired by the music I love: Wilco, R.E.M., Gillian Welch, Nellie McKay, Loretta Lynn, Lucinda Williams, Greg Brown. I love rhythm, thanks to rap and electronica, (such as Bjork, House of Pain, Dr. Dre, Arrested Development, Digable Planets) and funky stuff like Jamiroquai...I'll listen to anything.
But back to my album.
It melds emotional electric and acoustic rhythm guitar, sincere lyrics and direct vocals. You'll want to hear more after the first listen. Random people will tell me that the music has helped them pull through major life events. That alone was worth making the album.
"Identity Crisis" is a bit experimental, but not so much that the music is pretentious. On "Fool For You," an electrified love song on the album, for example, I play a kitchen colander.
Sasha Mercedes, my producer, calls "Identity Crisis" progressive folk-rock because the album hybridizes music genres. The music straddles the boundary of bluesy folk and Americana to also tread on territory paved by more modern punk and rock. The folky title track features finger-picked electric guitar to share voices I heard on her trip to Washington D.C. in 2002 as a newspaper reporter covering an anti-war protest.
"Susanna" on "Identity Crisis" pushes the door more into country-folk with its slide guitar, courtesy of Stevens Point, Wis. musician Mike White who makes a special guest appearance on the album. Dreamy space-based lyrics on "Gravity" and "Desoto's Youth" are reminiscent of what one might hear Eva Cassidy sing, but the album tempers the sweetness with the electric pseudo-punk song, "Only My Fear," which I often dedicate to anyone who has experienced panic attacks, and "Top Step," a look into the life of a sexually abused girl.
Identity Crisis was recorded in Madison, Wis., while Sasha Mercedes was house-sitting over the winter. We recorded the project in four or five days using a digital recorder. Tom Fabjance of the Sacred Heart Music Studio in Duluth, Minn. mastered the CD. Tom has worked on sound for such groups as the Smashing Pumpkins and Mazzy Star.
**************
"It took me three years to get geared up for the Identity Crisis project. I had never recorded before and the process seemed intimidating," Claudia Jane said. "Now that the CD is done I feel that all the work paid off. The final product is well worth the wait."
****************
Over the past several years Claudia Jane has performed at many venues, including The Chequamegon Women's Showcase at StageNorth in Washburn, Wis.; Fitgers Brewhouse in Duluth, Minn.; The Clark Place in Stevens Point, Wis.; and The Still Life Café in Seattle, Wash. She has performed live on Wisconsin Public Radio as a guest on the Saturday night Higher Ground program with Jonathan Overby.
She continues to craft songs for another album, is actively recruiting musicians for a band and is in the middle of a collaborative project with Sasha Mercedes.
For more information about Claudia Jane, to get on her mailing list, to talk about being in a band, or to purchase her CD, visit her Web site: http://www.claudiajane.com
*****************
reviews
Please log in to review this album.
I want more!
author: Joanie MullinsThis first CD is emotionally intelligent and its creative presentation spurs me to want to hear where Claudia Jane goes next. I look forward to future work by this artist!
Beautiful and flawless in one bowed package
author: Megan WalkerThis CD was great! I listen to it everyday on my drive to work. Keep up the good work and I'll sure consider buying any upcoming CDs :)
Album blows my mind
author: Rick Olivo/The Daily Press, Ashland, WIMusic prospectors will discover very quickly that they have found a 24-karat nugget in "Identity Crisis," a new CD by Ashland artist Claudia Jane....With minimal accompaniment - usually just her own guitar, and a few friends backing her - it's Claudia Jane’s voice and vivid lyrics that are up front and center. The results are intriguing, sometimes stunning; an effort that stands out from the crowd and announces a new artist who is going places...Claudia Jane has produced a remarkable first effort. It seems clear that it is but the beginning for an artist who enjoys challenging her listeners, someone who has a clear idea of her own musical identity.
Fearless songwriting
author: Devon Henderson/Lake Superior SounderThe songs are personal and well-crafted, and unafraid to touch unpleasant subjects that are largely geared toward women but most anyone can identify with.
Amazing voice, great lyrics
author: AJ VanBeestYour voice is amazing. You sound so pure and wistful that at times I wonder how you manage to make your way through the world without the white garments, crown of golden berries, and radiant inner light that traditionally mark a Princess of Wist. I really dig your writing, too. You have some beautiful lyrics on this album.