Paul Turner
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Paul Turner

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"Debut Album, Clear Blue"

He entices you with the chorus of the album’s first track, “Come With Me”, and his powers of persuasion continue for eleven sumptuous songs. There’s no resisting Paul Turner’s invitation to savour life, and the journey he takes the listener on is unforgettable. Clear Blue is a powerful and evocative collection from a singer-songwriter who has heartfelt messages to share and an accessible and joyous musical expression with which to convey them.

Bringing a mature, world-wise yet unfailingly optimistic attitude to his work, Paul Turner is an independent artist whose music is instantly accessible to fans of rock, pop and folk. While harking back to a time when songs were earnest and pure without commercial consideration, Turner is a thoroughly contemporary tunesmith, and his songs are destined for acclaim in Australia and internationally.

Turner’s engaging acoustic-rock style and simple, effective lyrics are showcased in the eleven tracks on Clear Blue, which was produced by Adrian Hannan (Taxiride, Vanessa Amorosi, The Superjesus) and mastered by Oscar Gaona at Studios 301 in Sydney.

“I’m appealing to the deeper aspect of ourselves, the part that stirs stuff up,” Turner explains. His melodic finger picking guitar style favours open tunings and unusual chord progressions, and his voice has a directness that touches the soul. He sees himself as a kind of painter. “I try to have quite wide brushstrokes so people can look at my work as they like.”

“Come With Me”, the song that opens Clear Blue, is about moving forward in both spiritual and earthly ways. “It’s about letting everything go,” says Turner. “All the conditioning, things that keep you tied in, your ideas of romance, any concepts that are strong in your psyche and keep you restricted. Sometimes when I sing the song I think about trekking around Fairy Bower in the Southern Highlands; other times I think about being in India.”

“Written In Stone” is another standout track. “It’s about dogmatic attitudes and not being able to forgive,” Turner says. “About not being able to get past the blind faith. It was originally inspired by the conflict in the Middle East, but it can also be about personal relationships – love, families, friendships. “Love Meteorite” combines Turner’s fascinations with the different facets of love and the experiential journey. “It is about commitment to an ideal and moving towards more positive emotions.”
- Debbie Kruger, Author of "Songwriters Speak"


"Paul Turner - Metro Entertainment"

Paul Turner

Brett Winterford
June 22, 2007

Paul Turner made that rarest of career moves, from futures trader to musician.

Genre
Rock, Pop
Location
The Basement
Address
29 Reiby Pl, Sydney
Date
26 June 2007
Tickets
$15
Phone Bookings
(02) 9251 2797
Online Bookings
www.thebasement.com.au

* AUDIO: Paul Turner - City Lights

Independent musicians work the strangest of jobs. With never enough money coming in, you'll find them pouring beers, answering phones, perhaps even wrapping up the prawns at the seafood section of your supermarket.

It's far rarer to find them on the floor of the Sydney Futures Exchange.

Among the flashy suits, the yelling and those strange, frantic hand signals, you might find Paul Turner, futures trader and songwriter.

He started at the exchange at 26, having just returned from two years' backpacking to just about every continent on the planet. He wasn't entirely sure about his future. He dreamed of playing music, but even in his mid-20s he had barely picked up an instrument.

Then he met a man on a train.

"I was reading a book on the stock market," Turner says. "This guy said he was a futures trader. He convinced me to register and take the exam."

Over the next two years, Turner ran orders between the desk clerks and the floor traders by day. By night, he took classical guitar lessons, inspired by a version of Classical Gas he heard years earlier at a hostel in San Francisco.

Eventually, Turner worked up the courage to "have a little book of his own". With $20,000 on his credit card, he started trading himself, losing almost half his money in the first week.

"Futures are very volatile. Some people say it's more dangerous than gambling. Ninety-nine-point-nine per cent of traders lose their money in the first three months."

But Turner had a secret weapon. He is a practitioner of Vipassana "insight"' meditation, which helps, he says, to overcome your negative self. "With meditation comes intuition and balance in adverse situations. I just kept a more positive mind frame [about trading]."

With his winnings from the trading-room floor, Turner recorded his debut album, Clear Blue, produced by Adrian Hannan (Lee Harding, Casey Donovan, Delta, Millsy etc). Turner has turned out 10 tracks that sing softly of "romance, meditation and self-discovery".

Musically, Clear Blue falls into Pete Murray or Charlton Hill territory - easy listening for the Mosman-bred and Newtown-fed. His publicist describes these songs as "bright and whimsical, wistful and mysterious, deeply romantic and effervescent as life itself".

The cynics among us will eat our shoes, but all this mind-over-matter positivity stuff is paying dividends. Without so much as a release in Australia, Turner has scored a distribution deal in the US.

It came about after he contacted a plugger for US radio, one Kevin Sutter.

Turner is now paying Sutter - or "The Sutterman", as he is known in industry circles - to plug his songs to US radio stations. Already they've been added to playlists at commercial stations in Santa Fe and Virginia Beach.

"Apparently, this guy toured R.E.M. and helped break Norah Jones," Turner says, sounding slightly unconvinced. "[Hiring a plugger] does cost a bit of money. But to me it's a bit like another gamble. Sutterman seems to think it has legs." - Sydney Morning Herald


"Review By Colin Lynch"

One inescapable truth facing many of today's most 'successful' songsmiths is that, in a digitally distributed music world, (where a portable CD player is an absolute embarrassment to your kids!) standing out like a diamond among bricks is a very difficult thing to do.. that is, of course, if you don't possess the kind of rare energy and pure inventiveness that Paul Turner has in the palm of his hand and in absolute creative abundance!
Paul Turner is the kind of contemporary singer songwriter that you have to take very seriously indeed. I feel a sense of inadequacy writing this review on a PC keyboard when I should be writing the review on a 'proper' writer's typewriter like they did back in the day.. if you're going to go and write and co-produce a spectacular album, the least the reviewer can do is use the 'proper' tools and I somehow don't fee like a PC keyboard is worthy! It's all I've got though.. so I'll be as professional as I can to make up for it!
The opening track City Lights is a ridiculously brilliantly written masterpiece that takes you back to the days of classic songwriting - depth of perception, lyrical structural magnificence, and cool focused vocals to enhance the experience further. There's some really cool musicianship riding on the engaging arrangement and the production and engineering are far above anyone's expectations for a track laced with sixties production ingenuity and millennium cleverness! City Lights, Ladies and Gents, is an absolute Godsend at a time when we really do need this kind of blessing to add to the soundtracks of our lives!
Be Happy carries the torch that was lit when we first pressed the Play Button for City Lights. Watch out for the soul caressing strings balanced beside the smooth and seamless vocals! Again, Paul's approach to his songwriting are highly inventive, and again, the sheer depth of creativity is outstanding! Angel's Cry on the other hand, has the kind of power that Seal's work did when it was first unleashed on the world (witness - Kiss from a rose). Here we have some very fine and commercially superior songwriting that confirms yet again, the sheer excellence in approach that we've all been without for so long!
Love Meteorite is an intriguing title for an equally intriguing and emotionally powerful song complete with the kind of electro/acoustic rock playing that drives the vocals and lyrics straight into the core of your heart and you have to be prepared for this to happen all over again with the remarkably well written Room where we're treated to some lovely strings and harmonica used to the greatest effect with some magnificent production to keep things clean!
Poison is one of my favourite songs on this album.. oh and City Lights.. what an enticement! With Poison, Paul's approach is to be non-introspective or melancholy but rather to be startlingly and electrifyingly subjective and determined. It's a very clever example of today's innovativeness that I mentioned earlier as being very hard to find and all the more reason why I find it easy to classify Paul Turner as a major contender for world class songwriting in anyone's league division!
Come With Me, I know, has already received widespread critical acclaim for it's maturity in approach and for it's musical splendour on a commercially inducing level, but behind all of this is a very sincere and magnificently realized sample of fine songwriting and expression. It's another classic on an album that is completely flawless in every aspect and I can only presume that Oscar Gaona's mastering at Studios 301 in Sydney, was a process of 'classy' and 'embracing' involvement rather than an exercise in sound glamour. Well done guys... it's just brilliant!
Soul In Air is the track I returned to after grabbing another coffee and I have to confess that all the way up and down the stairs I kept thinking... ohhhhhhh thank youuuuuu Amy!!!! (Amy Stephens - Paul's Media contact in the US). Reviewing this album has been an absolute joy and the joy extends to this rather beautiful song of endearment that often sparkles in relationships and more commonly in 'true' empathetic romance. Carcassonne meanwhile, highlights Paul's remarkable sense of the extraordinary in the most ordinary of subjective situations.. something he does with seeming ease in all of his songs but perhaps a little more defiantly in his approach to crafting this little masterpiece of alternative folk/pop.
The album closes with the rather nicely performed and eloquently designed, Clear Blue, where Paul's acoustic playing is the stuff of many a guitarist's dreams and the production, yet again, is the icing on the cake. It should be noted that the playing throughout this album has been entirely seamless and excitingly executed! It's an album that deserves much praise and appreciation for the inspired innovation as well as for the sheer magnitude of excellence all round.. if Paul turner is playing at a location you can reach... then I'd suggest y - IOM Magazine


"Clear Blue Review"

The Dwarf.com.au Review By Tassie

Throughout our lives we embark on many amazing journeys, some of which take us to foreign lands where we are exposed to untold wonders. Other journeys we take are closer to home; they are the travels we take within ourselves to learn who we really are as a person. Often these reflections result in some kind of renewed understanding or awakening and it is precisely this spiritual essence that Paul Turner has captured on his album, Clear Blue.
Opening with the folk rich tones of ‘City Lights’, the album introduces Turner’s finger plucking guitar abilities and the heartfelt nature of the musical textures that underlie each of his tracks. Like all of his work nothing here sounds too clean, or stripped of all raw emotion, it simply sounds real. Moving then to the gentle sounds and delicate pace of ‘Be Happy’, Turner demonstrates the subtle power which rests within his grounded lyrics. His poetic stylings are genuine and sound like they are drawn from his own experiences and delivered straight from his heart. Such obviously introspective lyrics readily connect with listeners and do not require much complex interpretation; the message is pure and beautifully simple.
‘Come With Me’ rests on the delicacy and beauty of Turner’s vocal delivery, and builds to a heartfelt emotively charged chorus. In this track Turner showcases the range of his vocal abilities, moving from the shadow to the light and back again. This is a song of drawing forward to something new and it does itself have a feeling of something new which begs to be explored. ‘Soul In Air’ starts quietly, like gentle ocean waves caressing the sandy shore and Turner’s vocals are equally soft and hang tenderly in the air. This song uses careful and deliberate pacing and a fragile musical backing to speak of the meeting of souls. After a subdued beginning, the chorus is like a wakeup call as it lifts to another level, inspiring and introducing hope with every word.
Through Clear Blue, Turner lays his soul bare with heart aching honesty and in doing so he raises the sort of questions that many people reflect on, things like who we really are and what life and love is all about. While he may not have all the answers, there is comfort to be found in the soulful musical journey he takes each listener on. He is truly an artist to appreciate and savour long after the music stops playing. - The Dwarf.com.au


"Hotsource Editorial"

Home Again - Paul Turner
20/09/2007 1:08:54 PM

Bondi singer-songwriter Paul Turner is back on home turf after a successful stint in the US promoting his debut album, Clear Blue.

Paul managed to score a distribution deal with Burnside Distribution earlier this year and was supporting the release with live radio shows and in store performances in Portland, Seattle and Santa Fe.

"The highlight of my tour was meeting Shaun Parish, producer of the Santa Fe Muzik Festival" says Turner.

After hearing him play on the KBAC radio show, Shaun offered Paul a slot performing at the 2007 festival alongside Wu-Tang Clan, Public Enemy and Everclear. The festival turned out to be the largest concert ever in New Mexico and featured 150 artists playing on 6 stages over 3 days.

Afterwards Paul met up with his friend Shaun Jefford, LA filmmaker and director ('The Edge of the World', 'Telling Lies').

"Shaun wanted to help me shoot a video clip, so we just went on a road trip from Santa Fe to LA through the New Mexico desert. It was truly amazing and I think we got some great footage". Says Paul.

Plans are underway for Turner to return to the states in November this year to tour the West Coast and record a new album with Larry Crane (producer of Elliot Smith) at Jackpot Studios in Portland.

Paul Turner will be touring here in October promoting the international release of Be Happy and will include performing at the Home Grown Roots Showcase at the Vanguard. - Wendy Loyd-Curley


"ABC Oztrax"

ABC Oztrax

Song Added to Playlist: Come With Me

Paul Turner from the album Clear Blue

At the age of 30, Paul Turner was a relatively late starter on the song writing scene, but as a result the songs on his debut album are based on a wealth of experience and observations.

Paul says meditation and travelling have equal places in his life, and music is how he expresses the many facets of it. Paul indicates that in his songs he's "appealing to the deeper aspect of ourselves, the part that stirs stuff up". For example, the song Come With Me is about "letting everything go....all the conditioning, the things that keep you tied in, your ideas of romance, any concepts that are strong in your psyche and keep you restricted." Sometimes when he sings the song, Paul thinks about trekking around Fairy Bower in the Southern Highlands, and sometimes of being in India.

Clear Blue is Paul Turner's debut album and is released independently. - ABC Radio


"Hotsource Editorial May"

Top U.S. Promoter Backs Sydney Songwriter
25/05/2007 6:28:30 PM

A top promoter in the US who backed the talent of names such as Norah Jones, David Gray and Jack Johnson has approached Sydney songwriter, Paul Turner, offering to help spread his wings in the US.

Just weeks after the release of his acoustic folk album Clear Blue, Paul received a call from music promoter, Kevin Sutter, in Seattle, who expressed an avid interest in plugging his debut album on US airwaves.

Known as "the Sutterman" in music industry circles, Sutter's cited as one of the top-five US promoters because of his success bringing previous unknowns Norah Jones, David Gray and Jack Johnson to radio – essentially breaking their careers.

"I work for independents and rely on the quality of music to gain airplay," said Sutter.

Sutter’s day-to-day job is to call over 200 commercial radio stations all over the United States and convince them to play singles on the radio. Many in his business work for major labels and part of their success is based on "payola."

"Payola," a basic form of bribery in the broadcasting industry where cash or other "considerations" are given to radio stations or specifically DJ's in exchange for playing specific records, was made illegal in the late 1950's but can be very difficult to trace or prove.

Earlier this year four major US broadcasters agreed to anti-payola settlements, which sources at the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reveal will total $US12.5 million paid to the US government.

Over eight thousand half-hour segments of free airtime will be provided to independent labels and their artists, local musicians, and notably will not apply to any companies owned by the nation's four dominant music labels.

"Gone are the days when a commercial jock plays something on the radio ‘cos he likes the music. So it’s reassuring to know there’s an FCC and people out there like ‘the Sutterman’ going to bat for independent artists like myself," said Paul, who’s debut album, Clear Blue, has already been picked up by radio stations on both East and West coast of the United States.

Evidence of Paul's universal appeal seems apparent from fan-mail posted at his website from China Peru, Germany, Italy, France and Japan.

Catch Paul Turner live before he leaves to tour the States at the Basement, Circular Quay, on Tuesday 26th June 2007 at 9pm. His debut album, Clear Blue, is available in all record stores through MGM/Green Distribution. - Wendy Loyd-Curley


Discography

New Album Release

Artist: Paul Turner
Title: Clear Blue
Cat No: PT 001
Barcode: 678277154124
Distribution/Label: Burnside Distribution/White Lotus Records
Street Date: 10th April 2007
Suggested List Price: USD$14.99
File Under: Folk/Rock/Pop.
Track Listing:
1. City Lights 2. Be Happy 3. Angels Cry
4. Love Meteorite 5. Room 6. Poison 7. Come With Me
8. Soul In Air 9. Carcassonne 10. Clear Blue

“I know what I want. I know what I like. Days here have been good. I know you’ve been kind. These City Lights”

Paul Turner allures the listener and forges an epic with his track “City Lights”. His powers of persuasion continue for ten inspirational tracks. There’s no resisting Turner’s invitation
to savor life, and the journey he takes the listener on is unforgettable.

Bringing a mature, world-wise yet unfailingly optimistic attitude to his work, Turner is an independent artist whose music is instantly accessible to fans of rock, pop and folk. Turner is a thoroughly contemporary tunesmith, and his songs are destined for acclaim internationally.

Clear Blue is a powerful and evocative collection. Turner’s engaging acoustic-rock style is as bold as Neil Young yet with the smarts of John Mayer. Where these two rivers merge you’ll find Paul Turner. Turners simple, heartfelt and effective lyrics are showcased on Clear Blue, (produced by Adrian Hannan in Sydney).

The albums single “City Lights” is an instant classic, with a Zepplinesque “California” style acoustic intro, soaring guitar arrangements, taking you on a search for freedom.

“Love Meteorite” another standout from Clear Blue combines
Turner’s fascinations with the different facets of love and the experiential journey. “It is about commitment to an ideal and moving towards more positive emotions.”

Radio Promotion/Managment
Kevin Sutter
Tazmoe Music
Ph: 425-889-2822
Tazmoe_Music [at] earthlink [dot] net

Radio Promotion
Jeff Appleton
Marathon Entertainment
Ph: 810-797-2287
jeffappleton [at] marathonentertainment [dot] biz

Retail Marketing
Greg Steffen
National Music Marketing
Ph: 510-527-1861
GrSteffen [at] aol [dot] com

Media Contact
Amy Stephens
Stephens Media and PR
Ph: 503-297-0621
amy [at] stephensmediaandpr [dot] com

Distributed By:
Burnside Distribution Corp
1522 N. Ainsworth ST
Portland, OR 97217
Phone: 503-231-0876
Fax: 503-231-0420
Order [at] bdcdistribution [dot] com

www.myspace.com/musicbypaulturner

“In a world of over produced bling, here is a breath of fresh air, no clutter for lovers of folk roots or just good easy music.”
- iTunes listener comment.

Photos

Bio

Beguiling melodies, alluring lyrics, intricate guitar playing and a searing, soulful voice that cuts straight to the heart with instinctive honesty and simplicity – that’s the music of Paul Turner.

In the fast-paced, disposable world of the new millennium catering to a consumer and technology driven society, where new music is often ephemeral and even independent artists succumb to the will of commercial forces, Paul Turner is a breath of fresh air.

Turner brings new meaning to the notion of the independent artist. His recordings on his own label, White Lotus Records, are self-funded. His uncompromising approach guarantees an authenticity that resonates with audiences who connect with his accessible acoustic-based rock songs reflecting his wanderings, loves, joys and enduring search for truth.

Paul came to music via a circuitous route. Originally from New Zealand, a career as a professional rugby player was all set until he was stricken at the age of 20 with Ankylosing Spondylitis, a painful and debilitating rheumatic disease. Through healthy living, Paul healed himself at his new base in Sydney. A varied career led him to work in the financial markets for two years, before he changed track and headed overseas. While away, he began reading extensively, especially on philosophy and theology.

On his return to Australia, Paul took up classical guitar, and while he felt limited by the technical side of classical playing, the intimate relationship with his guitar, his reading and his explorations through meditation led him to songwriting. At 30 it was a relatively late start but ensured his songs were imbued with genuine life experiences and observations. Turner has travelled widely – both geographically and spiritually – to arrive at a point where he can create music that is both intimate and universally appealing. Meditation and travelling have equal place in his life to music, but songwriting is one of the best ways, Turner has discovered, to express the many facets of life.

His songs are full of wonder and a yearning to share what he has found on his personal journey. They are bright and whimsical, wistful and mysterious, deeply romantic and effervescent as life itself. Melodies sparkle, rise and fall, not a note wasted or a phrase out of place. “Come With Me”, the opening track on his new album, Clear Blue, is an instant classic, with an infectious chorus, soaring arrangements, and a simple, heartfelt message.

“Love Meteorite” and “City Lights” are also immediately memorable, and the haunting “Room” is mesmerizing. Turner says the song was sparked initially by an experience he had in Kashmir, and later turned into a song about the questionable pursuit of science and technology in modern life. “The whole of society has been dragged away from reality, it seems.”

His songs have drawn renowned producers and engineers to work with him such as Adrian Hannan (Taxiride, Vanessa Amorosi, The Superjesus) and Brent Clark (Alex Lloyd, Midnight Oil, Alanis Morissette).

Turner has been inspired along the way by artists as diverse as Neil Young, Cat Stevens, and AC/DC, but you won’t hear any direct musical correlation to their work in his songs. It’s about synthesis and reinvention; Paul Turner is an original and distinctive singer-songwriter destined to be heard for many years to come.