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Vanessa
Peters
Photo
credit: Brent Baxter Photography
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Acclaimed singer-songwriter Vanessa Peters set to
release Foxhole Prayers via Idol Records on October 5th
“a true poet and a brilliant songwriter” – Rootsville
Dallas, TX-based indie-folk singer-songwriter Vanessa
Peters is set to release her new album, Foxhole Prayers, on October
5, 2018, via Idol Records. In Foxhole Prayers, Peters’s
already-considerable songwriting prowess has risen to its fullest
stature, presented as a concise, gut-punching collection of songs
composed of piercing observations of both the outside and inside
worlds.
“I’m a literature geek at heart and for years
I’ve wanted to do an album somehow influenced by The Great Gatsby, but the idea seemed much too nerdy and abstract,”
explained Peters. “But after I re-read it last year, it dawned on me
that we were literally reliving the Gatsby years. Suddenly I could
see all the corrupt and self-indulgent characters from the book all
around me, with Trump as some kind of PT Barnum-meets-Warren G.
Harding character. I was on tour in Europe at the time and had
some time off between shows, so I holed up in a tiny apartment in
Utrecht for four days and began writing the songs that would become
the basis for the new album.”
Peters shines a bright light on the modern
world, illuminating the perilous rise of populist politics, the
seemingly incessant swirl of violence around us, the struggle to
remain positive in dark times, and the need to stand strong against
hate and desperation. The album is dark at times, but Peters
reminds us on upbeat songs like “Lucky” and album opener “Get
Started” that we forge our own luck from sheer determination and in
finding gratitude even in the face of hardship. Never before have we
heard Peters speak out as forcefully as she does in “Carnival
Barker,” one of the album’s most pointed tracks which takes direct
aim at not just populist politics but also the frightening way that
history repeats itself. And it is impossible to remain dry-eyed
throughout the starkly-honest “Fight,” in which Peters movingly bares
her deepest fears as a songwriter.
In Foxhole
Prayers, Peters demonstrates that
she has not only reached an entirely new level of lyricism, but has
vaulted into a new echelon of musicality. The album reflects a
pleasingly diverse yet cohesive collection of styles, effortlessly
weaving modern electronica elements and drum machines into more
familiar acoustic and rock arrangements. The result is a splendid
musical tapestry that unfolds from the first insistent notes of “Get
Started” and keeps the listener sonically mesmerized throughout. For
the record, Peters turned to producer Rip Rowan (Old 97’s, Rhett
Miller), producer John Dufilho (Deathray Davies, Apples in Stereo),
and what has now become her established stable of all-star musicians,
including longtime sideman and Grammy-winner Joe Reyes (Buttercup)
and Dallas guitar hero Chris Holt (Don Henley) on electric
guitar. Dufilho and bassist Andy Lester form the rhythm section
for most of the album, while Peters’s European bandmates (Federico
Ciancabilla, Andrea Colicchia) also make an appearance on a couple of
tracks.
On the deeply personal “Fight,” the track
opens simply and builds to an emotional climax on a swell of
interlocking guitar melodies evocative of Bends-era Radiohead. “Before it Falls Apart” is an
instantly striking, minimalist arrangement of drum machines, acoustic
and electric guitars, and a rich vocoder that suggests a more analog
version of Imogen Heap. On “This Riddle,” producer Rowan gives the
track a decidedly Neil Finn treatment, with intersecting live and
looped drums and swirling mellotrons. The album also showcases the
band’s ability to deliver punchy raw rock on tracks like “Trolls” and
“Carnival Barker.” Throughout the album, Peters’s voice is lush and
blissful as never before, dominating the mix and commanding the
listener’s attention to every word. And that’s the point: these are
big songs, full of weight and meaning, demanding to be heard - and
Peters makes the listener feel every syllable.
Over the years, Peters has gotten comparisons
to songwriters like Suzanne Vega, Beth Orton, Aimee Mann, Josh
Ritter, and others. Rootsville
called her “a true poet and a
brilliant songwriter,” while No Depression praised her “metaphor-rich songs” and “the depth
and substance of her skillfully-crafted lyrics.” The Dallas Observer called her “the best kind of singer-songwriter.”
Peters has released 11 albums and has played over 1000 shows in 11
countries as an independent artist. She has been crowdfunding
her albums for over a decade, long before Kickstarter ever
existed. She was nominated as Best Folk Artist by the Dallas Observer. The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram praised her most recent release, The Burden of Unshakeable
Proof, for its “10
gorgeously-sculpted tracks, a blissful shuffling of folk, pop, and
jazz bound together by Peters’s peerless voice.” Peters spent
2016 and 2017 touring the US and Europe with her band, while The Burden of Unshakeable
Proof received airplay on over 100
different AAA, college, and public radio stations across the country.
The album was found on a number of "best of" lists at
year's end, including No
Depression’s “Alt-Country and
Beyond” list.
In early 2018, Peters performed solo at 30A
Songwriters Festival, and she has opened for artists like John Oates,
10,000 Maniacs, Horse Feathers, and Griffin House. Peters plans
to tour – both solo and with her band – in support of Foxhole Prayers, both in the United States and abroad. Tour
dates will be announced soon.
https://vanessapeters.com/
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Vanessa
Peters
Photo
Credit: Brent Baxter Photography
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