Music
Press
BAND FEATURE (includes 3x4photo)
Friday, November 3, 2006
SeattleNoise: Karen Pernick
CAREER DEBUT: At an open mike in the 1990s at The Ark in Ann Arbor, Mich.
SOUND: Pernick's introspective, sometimes melancholy tunes reflect the changes and upheavals of her life in the past few years. Her beautiful voice soars on "Brightest Blaze," but carries the weight of deep emotion on "Wake Up." Pernick has toured and played festivals and clubs locally and nationally, from Bumbershoot to South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, picking up several songwriting awards.
RELEASES: "Two Kinds of Weather" (self-released), produced by Wayne Horvitz, with contributions from Matt Brown, Tucker Martine, Reggie Watts, Timothy Young and others; and "Apartment 12" (Shanachie Records), featuring guest musicians Bill Frisell, Julie Wolf, Horvitz and Robin Holcomb. "Two Kinds of Weather," a hometown project, was recorded and mixed at Flora Studio in Georgetown and The Track Shack in Columbia City. The album includes a beautiful version of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' "Wild Horses."
QUOTE: "When I was writing these songs, they all seemed to arrive with a certain straightforward quality, definitely a darker mood than I'd expressed before. And I think more transparent," Pernick says of the new album. "So, as simple as this sounds, the goal was just to 'show up' and not overstate anything. And in an almost physical way, just really drop down into it. "
WHERE TO LISTEN: www.karenpernick.com (including news, calendar, music, merchandise, biography and guestbook) and www.myspace.com/karenpernick
NEXT SHOW: Sunday night at 8 at the Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave. N.W. Pernick will be backed by her band, including Wayne Horvitz on Hammond organ, Timothy Young on guitar, Matt Brown on guitars and Keith Lowe on upright bass. Guests for Pernick's CD release party for "Two Kinds of Weather" include Varmint (featuring Robin Holcomb). Tickets: $10 at Ticketweb.com or $12 at the door. Information: 206-789-3599 or www.tractortavern.citysearch.com.
-- Gene Stout - Seattle PI - Gene Stout
Tempered by a Rickie Lee Jones-like romanticism, a kind of gutsiness comes through in her songs, which portray people battling with independence, stubbornness and the tenuousness of human connections. - Seattle Times
Pernick has matured into a thoughtful lyricist with a gift for probing the heart's contradictory cravings for spiritual communion and independence. Her songs are full of lovely, poetic details and possessed of a cool, unsentimental wisdom rare among contemporary singer-songwriters. - Schoolkids Records, Ann Arbor
With Pernick, whatever is, is right. Melancholy and longing are syncopated to perfection. Her voice goes up that enviable octave or two or three in just the heart-stopping spot. In the title song of her record, Apartment 12, she sings, "I wish that I could find a way into that other clear refrain." The thing is, that's exactly what she does. - Village Voice, NY
Soaked in the trademark velvet reverb of (engineer) Tucker Martine (Laura Veirs, Jesse Sykes), Karen Pernick’s Two Kinds of Weather signals the songwriter’s welcome return to recording. Luscious vocals dominate these tracks, as Pernick spins intricate, emotional tales of human-relationship plot points, together falling in tone somewhere between Ennio Morricone and Cormac McCarthy. In Pernick’s world, a poetic dualism of weather reigns: night rain becomes an embrace (“Brightest Blaze,” “Rain”) and sunlight can never keep you warm (“Angie’s Tavern”).
-Review: Two Kinds of Weather
- Joseph Riipi for Seattle Sound Magazine (Jan 5, 2007)
- Seattle Sound Magazine
Discography
CD - Karen Pernick / New independent release "Two Kinds of Weather" - April 2007 (National)
CD - Apartment 12 / Karen Pernick / Shanachie Records
CD Soundtrack - Climb Against the Odds - Karen Pernick, Indigo Girls, Beth Neilsen Chapman, Nancy Griffith and others for the PBS Documentary, "Climb Against the Odds"
Photos
Bio
" Soaked in the trademark velvet reverb of (engineer) Tucker Martine (Laura Veirs, Jesse Sykes), Karen Pernick's Two Kinds of Weather signals the songwriter's welcome return to recording. Luscious vocals dominate these tracks, as Pernick spins intricate, emotional tales of human-relationship plot points, together falling in tone somewhere between Ennio Morricone and Cormac McCarthy."
BIO:
Northwest singer-songwriter Karen Pernick returns with her independent release, Two Kinds of Weather produced by Wayne Horvitz, and engineered and mixed by Tucker Martine (Laura Veirs, Jesse Sykes) and Matt Brown (Trespassers William). A follow-up to her acclaimed debut, Apartment 12—also produced by Horvitz, released almost 10 years ago – Weather finds Pernick delving deeper; revealing a darker side of her voice and writing. "Weather" is receiving play locally on Seattle's KEXP and KBCS, and is set for a national release in the first week of April, 07.
Just a few years ago, Pernick had something of a literal and figurative “reawakening.” She awoke in the middle of the night to a devastating fire churning in the room below where she slept. Miraculously, no one was injured, but her home - the same apartment 12 she’d written of on her first album - was destroyed. The fire would mark the beginning of a long series of upheavals. “Change can steal away things you thought were yours to keep; but with that same uncompromising energy, it can bring you back to things you thought you’d left behind,” Pernick reflects. In this case, it brought her back to her guitar and her voice.
The songs on Two Kinds of Weather travel across a landscape of loss and rebirth, moving through this period of change in Pernick’s life. Set against a distinctly urban Northwest background, the natural world appears in quick flashes from the corner of her eye; there are rains and crows; cold, damp avenue bars; the still, gray street in front of her house.
To form the core band for this project, Pernick and Horvitz brought together a talented group of musical friends – all notable players including Timothy Young (Robin Holcomb, The Youngs), Keith Lowe (Fiona Apple, Kelly Joe Phelps), Andy Roth, Matt Brown (Trespassers William), Reggie Watts and David Keenan. Horvitz and the band create a tight and soulful ensemble, supporting Pernick’s work with the lush sounds of Hammond organ, electric and acoustic pianos and guitars.
Pernick’s come a long way from the distinctly folk setting where she got her start, working behind the scenes at the prestigious music venue, The Ark, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For one life-changing year, she spent her waking hours inside the four walls of that club, witnessing first-hand the gifts of musical greats such as Odetta, Ferron, Doc Watson, Jane Siberry and John Prine. Up to that point, she’d been writing songs “in secret,” but one Wednesday night, she took the stage at The Ark’s open mic and sang three of her own songs.
Pernick quickly gained attention, garnering several songwriting awards. From there, she went on to tour and play clubs and festivals locally and nationally, from Bumbershoot and Club Passim, to SXSW and ASCAP’s “Quiet on the Set.” Her first CD, Apartment 12, began as an independent project with producer Wayne Horvitz and guest artists such as Robin Holcomb, Bill Frisell and Julie Wolf. But after a trip to SXSW with that album’s completed demo in hand, she signed with and later released it on Shanachie Records.
Life took a few twists and turns, and though she continued writing, Pernick took some extended time away from playing and recording. Finally, in 2005, eager to record again and committed to self-funding the project, she approached Horvitz about collaborating on a new record. He agreed, and the end result is Two Kinds of Weather, a beautifully crafted album showcasing Pernick’s creative range and compelling vocals.
LISTEN LIVE:
Thru March 3rd, hear Karen and the band's recent live in-studio visit to KEXP's Audioasis show. To hear the show, visit:
http://www.kexp.org/streamarchive/streamarchive.asp
Then, just use the "Listen by Time" drop down menu to fill in the following date and time: February 17, 8:00pm. Once you choose your modem/listening preference, you'll hear the show.
PRESS/REVIEWS (see also - "Press" tab on this EPK):
" Soaked in the trademark velvet reverb of (engineer) Tucker Martine (Laura Veirs, Jesse Sykes), Karen Pernick’s Two Kinds of Weather signals the songwriter’s welcome return to recording. Luscious vocals dominate these tracks, as Pernick spins intricate, emotional tales of human-relationship plot points, together falling in tone somewhere between Ennio Morricone and Cormac McCarthy. In Pernick’s world, a poetic dualism of weather reigns: night rain becomes an embrace (“Brightest Blaze,” “Rain”) and sunlight can never keep you warm (“Angie’s Tavern”)." - - Seattle Sound Magazine (Jan 5, 2007)
"With Pernick, whatever is, is right. Melan
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