Candace Roberts
San Francisco, California, United States | SELF
Music
Press
Mixing equal parts Brenda Lee and Jane Siberry with a twist of lounge, singer-songwriter Candace Roberts’s debut CD goes down like one of those hip modern cocktails whose list of herbal ingredients makes you forget you’re drinking alcohol. With a sweet as sugar voice and lush, layered arrangements, Roberts lifts the mundane to the comically magnificent in odes to consumerist yearnings (“Handbag”), laments about boredom and depression (I’d Rather”), and the tragic (and hilarious) ballad of the guy who keeps falling for lesbians (“Layover Man”). More than just a pretty voice, Roberts touches the mournfully sublime in “Somewhere Else,” a lyrical list of all the ways in which happiness hovers just out of our reach.
Fans of 1980s singer-songwriter Bonnie Hayes will detect a shared sensibility here, and Hayes credit as Roberts’s producer and mentor may provoke an “Aha!” moment (and also explains all that reverb). Like Hayes, whose career hits stretch from Valley Girl theme “Girls Like Me” to Bonnie Raitt’s “Have a Heart,” Roberts matches smart quirky lyrics with a girl group sound and eclectic instrumentation. (She plays keyboard and guitar on the album and is happy to add tubas, accordions, and the odd harpsichord into the mix.) Honeymoon for One brings to mind a whole slew of funny ladies and the songs they sang back in the new-wave ‘80s. Remember Julie Brown’s “The Homecoming Queens’s Got a Gun”? Or when Bernadette Peters sang “Making Love Alone” on Saturday Night Live? How about the Roches? Listening to Honeymoon for One made me realize how much I’ve been missing that breed of singers, that combination of bouncy pop and witty, feminist sensibility. We need more songs like “Say I Do,” wherein Roberts riffs on marrying herself: “Booked a honeymoon for one/ Cost me half as much for twice the fun/ No more Frisbee on the beach, got my boomerang…” - MONICA NOLAN
LISTEN WHILE: By yourself in your kitchen, cooking up a locavore dinner just for you.
- Bitch Magazine
This is an exquisite album and entirely addictive. Candace’s voice imparts truth, beauty and humor ... when her brilliant lyrics require it. Her music is a feast for the ears as well as the mind and soul. She tells intriguing stories about finding your way in confusing circumstances and encountering peace and comfort with yourself. Candace’s inspired writing paired with gorgeously crafted melodies and arrangements makes for a truly original sound that leaves you feeling right at home. May it be listened to far and wide! - URSULA STECK
- Ursula Steck, Bella Books
Passes my “play over and over continuously over multiple days” test. The jokes are even funny the second and third time around. Amazing that this is a debut album. Someone called it “theatrical.” Exactly. I can’t get over the sense that this is the sound track to a hit musical, the stories the songs tell and the characters they summon are that vivid. - KEN MCCARTHY
- Amacord Inc
This cabaret meets girl-group meets jazz disc from San Francisco-based Candace Roberts offers a quirky, varied collection of songs with something for everyone. Among the top tracks: the beatalicious “Layover Man” and haunting “Be Still.” - DIANE ANDERSON-MINSHALL - Curve Magazine
Discography
Honeymoon for One (2010)
Photos
Bio
Candace wrote and demoed these songs out of her bedroom eventually teaming up with beloved mentor/producer Bonnie Hayes. Drawing on cabaret, vaudeville, jazz, pop and rock, “Honeymoon for One” chronicles the artist’s odyssean-like attempts to fill the tank, only to realize … the tank is already full! Desiring everything under the sun from cookies to strangers to pots of gold, she spins out but eventually finds her way back home, only to discover a most unexpected proposal waiting at the end of the rainbow. With lushly-layered vocal harmonies, dreamy guitars, harpsichord and accordion, this album delivers big on whimsy, reverie and abundant theatrics. Do enjoy!
More specifically about Candace ... at the age of eight she glommed onto theater after snatching the highly coveted role of the Virgin Mary in the 3rd grade nativity play. It was just the beginning of what proved to be a long tenure as resident “goody-two-shoes”, including stints as Dorothy, Alice and Little Red Riding Hood. Later, Candace studied music and did social work for a number of years. While accumulating upwards of 763 odd jobs, Candace eventually began making short films and writing songs. She’s been known to sing some jazz out and about, yet in recent years she increasingly finds herself rocking the ever-reliable wedding and funeral circuit amongst family and friends. It has also inspired her next album – “Death’s Greatest Hits.”
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