Selia Qynn
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Selia Qynn

Houston, Texas, United States | SELF

Houston, Texas, United States | SELF
Band Folk Acoustic

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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"CHARMED EXISTENCE CD"

Plus jazzy, le nouvel album de Selia ne manque pas de charme.
Sa voix posée flirte avec un saxophone sur fond de piano ou de cordes.
L'album, bien que très éloigné de l'idée que l'on se fait de la Country Music,
n'en reste pas très a langoureux, voire mélancolique.
A écouter, tendrement, les jours de pluie. Listen it tenderly.

Translation:
More jazzy, the new album of Selia does not miss a charm. Her poised voice flirts with saxophone in an
undercurrent of other instruments. The album, although very far away from the idea that one has of
country music, does not detract from the languorous, even melancholic persona. Listen to it tenderly on
rainy days.
Translation to The Moon & Me: - THE FRENCH TOUCH


"THE MOON AND ME"

Selia chante la mélancolie, l'instrumentation classique à cordes laisse filter
des bribes d'expressions celtiques mêlés d'envolées électriques.
Le mélange, bien qu'un peu lancinant, reste agréable à écouter,
la steel guitar pousse des cris aux accents country.
Le mélange est savant, les sonorités harmonieuses.

Translation: Selia sings the melancholy, the traditional instrumentation has hints of Celtic expressions intertwined
with electric flights. The mixture, although a little emotional, is pleasant listening, the electric guitar
cries with a country accent. The mixture is learned, with resonant harmonies. - THE FRENCH TOUCH


"Selia Qynn's Music"

The first song I ever heard Selia Qynn sing was "Shades of Blue" and I was hooked. She is a confident guitarist and a determined songwriter. Her voice is hauntingly true and soothing. With these talents, Selia Qynn embraces the very reason singers sing and writers write; to provide the world with art that's entertaining and thought-provoking. Artistically speaking, listening to Selia Qynn's passion for song is no less gratifying than gazing upon the works of Van Gogh or Monet, and can be just as calming. Selia offers four titles here and they are all gems. "THE MOON AND ME" is a re-vamped release of Qynn's first cassette which is long out of print, and just as well, because this enhanced version is a well produced project showcasing some of Selia's earliest music. Qynn captures an electric side to pop-folk music with the help of Bill Wood on guitar on "Let It Go", while continuing to lazily wind down country back roads with cuts like "I Can't Ask". "THE SURREAL LIFE ADVENTURES OF STELAA QUEST" is a narrated production that works like a 66 minute choreographed musical. I haven't enjoyed a CD like this since I played Pink Floyd's "DARK SIDE OF THE MOON" while watching "THE WIZARD OF OZ." (I think you start the CD on the second roar of the lion...or something like that) "STELLA QUEST" is a clever production worth every penny. Qynn's third release is "CHARMED EXISTENCE" and is perfectly engineered by Karl Caillouet who has recorded the best of the best over the years. The retro-styled "Miss You Like Crazy" is refreshing, and Qynn pays tribute to her first love (Elvis) by including a very nice rendition of "I Can't Help Falling In Love". When you need a little more Selia Qynn, along comes "UNRELEASED." This is a fine collection of songs including that one that got me hooked in the first place. Along with her impressive discography, Selia Qynn is a noted and respected performer, and is always eager to help a fellow musician any way she can. Now you can enhance your CD shelf with any of these titles for only 13.99. You'll be the next Selia Qynn fan!!
- MYTEXASMUSIC.COM


"THE MOON AND ME"

The overall tone of the CD is quiet and rather introspective. Qynn's clear voice is hushed and the instrumentals somewhat muted. The songs are quite melodic and the sort of thing that you can easily sing along with if you're of the mind to do so (I like songs that are easy to sing to). There is, however, one track on the CD that sticks out rather like the proverbial sore thumb: "Let it Go," with its heavy electric guitar accompaniment, is very much rockinspired. This is not to say that it's not a good song, its philosophy fits with the rest of the CD, but its style doesn't really mesh. Among the other memorable tracks is "Gathering the Memories," in which Qynn sings to her son not to be in such a hurry to grow up; the lyrics in the liner notes are accompanied by pictures of her son as a toddler. "To a Dancer" is a sad goodbye to a friend who has died alone. "The Moon and Me" is a wonderful way to open the CD, with the imagery of the full moon rising. The Moon & Me is a great CD for quiet times alone or to share with someone else. - RAMBLES - A CULTURAL ARTS MAGAZINE


"CHARMED EXISTENCE CD"

Initially scanning Selia Qynn's Charmed Existence, I noticed the nostalgic title font, the misty-eyed cover worthy of a paperback romance and finally the version of "Can't Help Falling in Love" among the songs. Warning bells started going off. But when the first notes played, those bells faded, replaced by sultry vocals suitable for a smoky jazz club, along with a backdrop of saxophone, hand drums and flute. There's mystery here in these atmospherics, the mystery born in a relationship, when two people start out together on an unknown path. This jazz flavor continues via Kelly Dean's saxophone, but it's also varied with folk leanings, including some fine cello work by Max Dyer. It's an interesting and well-constructed stylistic palette, well-suited to Qynn's intimate and nuanced voice, which is capable of both power and restraint. Qynn handles both lead and backing vocals, and displays a strong vocal gift with both. Following a single relationship's arc, or perhaps those of several different relationships, the songs start in the mist of possibility and gradually shift to a concrete if lightheaded reality. Like a landmark midway along the road, "Seasons" makes this path clear with its image of passing months that lead to the eventual winter, thus foreshadowing a relationship's bleak end. Despite this traditional story of a couple's affair, Qynn's beautiful voice and the accomplished musicians involved provide the variety and depth to keep the listener's interest. A passage of Spanish decorates "Royal Love," and "Miss You Like Crazy" unexpectedly becomes an amusing, bouncy '50s pop tune. Amid this playfulness, more serious songs like "Bitter Blue" maintain enough energy to avoid morose melodramatics. Many fine lyrics decorate the narrative like precious stones on a chain, among them the first track's epigram, which might well serve as the blueprint for the entire CD: "Fantasies are stories, illusions are not real / And tricks are never magic, but feelings always feel." Fortunately, even the seemingly easy lyrics become more complex in context. Qynn declares "I want water" on "Desert Wind," only to shortly be "tortured in this storm" during "Winter Rain." Much of the early, daydreaming innocence becomes more deliberate when one realizes that Qynn already knows the unpleasant end of this story. Such stereotypes and cliches exist in part because they do succeed in expressing basic human feeling and experiences, even those that seem hopelessly naive in retrospect. In the end, my early impression of Charmed Existence was not completely wrong. The romance here is dominant, and it is a little precious, a little stereotypical. But then, real romance is often these things too, a fact Qynn seems to well recognize. Enough delicate realizations appear here to counterbalance the certain familiarity, and the balance of light elements with darker ones makes each mood's relative truth all the more apparent. Those seeking a measured look at relationships, one built on jazz flavor and strong vocals, one that's light but not insubstantial, will find Charmed Existence a rewarding choice. - RAMBLES - A CULTURAL ARTS MAGAZINE


Discography

Selia has 4 self-produced CDs:
The Moon & Me
The Surreal Life Adventures of Stella Quest
Charmed Existence
Unlreleased
Plus 2 singles: "Pass It On" and "Throw Me Down The Key"

Photos

Bio

Selia's life as a touring artist began at the tender age of 3, when her father forced her to sing to keep him awake on the long road trips between pipeline jobs. Standing in the backseat - before the seatbelt laws - she could just barely reach his ear. Her repertoire consisted of just three songs, but then her vocabulary wasn't that vast either. She decided early on, she would have to learn more songs just to drive away the boredom of repetition. Although she as since learned hundreds of songs and thousands of words, her father's favorites remain the first 3. On Top Of Old Smokey, Down In The Valley, and 500 Miles.

In 1990, Selia was in the top 40 chosen in Kerrville Folk Festival’s New Folk competition. By 1991, she had produced her debut album, "The Moon & Me." "All Children Here", from this release, won an award at the Spring Music Festival; and later received another honor; the Houston International Peace Festival adopted a line from the song "healing the world from our own backyard" as their 1993 event slogan and logo.

In 1992, she released “The Surreal Life Adventures of Stella Quest,” a concept album with a cast of characters who unfold in a series of colorful vignettes. Eleven songs from fantasy-folk ballads about love and haunting dreamlands to satyrical blues and rockn’roll spoof are woven into the whimsical, thought-provoking narrative of this musical, mystical, fantasy-folk space odyssey.

1993 marked the release of six music videos that have been aired on the Public Access channel in Houston and Dallas, TX and in Atlanta, GA. This half-hour show is personal, family oriented and full of heart, with clips between songs of her son and wild pet sparrow.

Selia’s music is aired on numerous European radio stations including France, Belgium, Spain, Denmark, The Netherlands, Russa, Sweden and on numerous New England and Midwestern college radio stations as well as on Houston's KPFT listener sponsored radio.

In 1999, Selia released her third self-produced CD, Charmed Existence, with 12 original love songs (and one Elvis tune) covering the relationship gamut from hopeful beginning to bitter end. The instrumentation is much more jazzy on this one, but still smooth and introspective over all.

Selia's latest album, Unreleased, is in fact finally released and is an eclectic collection of songs with a folk-jazz to ballad flavor. Her next project, still bouncing around in her head at the moment, will have something to do with dreams, archetypes and quantum leaps.

Her spare time is spent in her lush and sprawling garden - a back yard habitat certified by the National Wildlife Federation. She loves nurturing growing things, digging holes in the world to let the flowers out, and enjoying the company of her many birds.