Amy Bleu
Portland, Oregon, United States
Music
Press
If you're a girl, and furthermore, if you're a girl with a guitar, you're gonna need a way to set yourself apart from all the other girls with guitars. It's all too easy to be lumped into the "folk" category, especially if you regularly gig at area coffeehouses and sing about the inner machinations of the human heart.
Originally from Portland, Amy Bleu has hollowed out her own shadowy alcove in focusing on the darker end of the emotional spectrum. Aurally speaking, her sound is a little like Missoula's Amy (Amy Martin), but Bleu's compositions are concerned more with the inner world. In fact, if Bleu is folk at all, it's only in the punk-folk sense. Songs like "Crazy Woman," "Negative Swirl," "Sad Girl's Love Song" and "Suicide Manifesto" are honest, raw, melodic yet seething. Her musicianship is solid, her songwriting intriguing. The Inland Northwest is lucky to have this remarkable new talent. -- Sheri Boggs
- Northwest Inlander
I'll admit it. Sometimes, a nice, interesting and above all reproducible photo of an artist or group is all it takes to haul me like a barfly out of my propaganda-saturated haze and get me to take notice. Performers love to get ink. And I love to give it to them. Trouble is, there are more performers out there vying for press than there is precious newspaper space here in which to talk about them. With all other things being equal, sometimes it really does come down to this: What do we have the best art for?
Amy Bleu sent us good art.
Bleu is an expatriate from the Rose City who has temporarily taken up residence in Spokane. This self-described "anti-folk folksinger" is seeking nothing less than to make an impression on local live music audiences. (She did it before, and she's doing it again at Huckleberry's this Saturday night.)
"I'm the daughter of a hippie and metal head," reveals Bleu, "which accounts for my sometimes soft and sweet, sometimes loud and angry style."
Whatever the style, hers is music that almost anyone who ever had a heart could relate to on some level.
"It's nice to know that people understand the way that I felt when I wrote the songs," she says.
With her captivating presence and penchant for emotionally ragged and at times haunting acoustic constructions, Bleu should make more than a minor scuff on the collective local psyche. For variety, people, is something we frequently lack here in the Lilac City.
Though she says she'll probably move back to her hometown soon, Bleu gives the Spokane coffeehouse scene -- and the local live music scene in general -- relatively high marks.
"What I like about the music scene here is that people get very excited about new artists. Also, I like the way most of the coffeehouses here are set up for live music on weekends -- so you don't get stuck playing on Tuesday night." -- by Mike Corrigan
- Northwest Inlander
Discography
"Renegade Angel" is currently being sold in stores and online, as well as at her shows. You can hear more of Amy's songs at amybleu.com.
Photos
Bio
Raised in several different cities and two countries, Amy's nomadic childhood naturally led her to a life of music and travel. She began writing songs as a childhood and picked up the guitar in her late teens. Within a year of teaching herself to play, she was already hitting the open mics in Portland. She spent the next few years moving around and sharing her music in places like Spokane, WA, Denver, CO, and Tucson, AZ. She has shared the stage with the likes of Tish Hinajosa, Laura Love, and Wendy DeRosa. Toward the end of 2003, she created her own record label, "Bad Girl's Records", and released her first album, "Renegade Angel". She is currently living in Portland again, touring the Northwest, and working on her 2nd album.
Links
