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I hardly had to make an effort at all to like this EP by Cameron Ember. This is slow and dreamy, slightly shoegaze pop in the vein of Low and Red House Painters.
Interestingly enough, members of RHP (and Mark Kozelek's newer project Sun Kil Moon) make an appearance on this self-released CD. But Cameron Ember is the main performer for this band and makes that clear with her shimmery vocals which are infused with just the amount of vibrato to snuggle into the slow-fi jazz inclinations of the other members.
While the music for "Dear America" and "Dear Captain" certainly does sound like it could be something off of RHP's Songs for a Blue Guitar (in particular the slow but heavy distorted guitar), "Seattle" has a more straightforward rock beat that reminds me a little bit of Low's "The Great Destroyer" album. "Diver" is somewhere in the middle. I like the fact that the songs have that RHP feel, but don't delve too heavily into the more "jammy" aspects that Kozelek can fall victim to. Nice little set of 4 songs.
- Shmat Records
The opening track on California singer/songwriter Cameron Ember's latest EP is called "Dear America", and with a melancholy tone and lyrics confessing to bad deeds and pleading for help, it comes off more like a requiem for a broken America than a new national anthem. Ember's singing voice is riveting here and on the other three tracks. Though some have more memorable melodies than others, each is enticing in its own way; for example, "Seattle" has me captured less by hooks than with lyrics like "boyfriends can teach you / all about check fraud." "Dear Captain" steps slowly through an enticingly moody fog of hurt feelings, crushed dreams, and dashed expectations, in a small town that on the surface stands for good ("a church on every corner / a flag on every porch"). Ember's stories from Americana always end in hurt, in tears, in emptiness. Her songs display a sensitivity to human suffering, and a knack for conveying it in song. - dave heaton - Erasing Clouds
Discography
"idea of Alice" 2009 Tiny Little Blackouts
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Bio
Cameron Ember (vox, extra gtr) spent 7 years in art school during which she fronted a number of bands. Michael Papenburg (lead guitar) has been playing guitar for almost a lifetime. Anthony Koutsos (drums) demanded that his parents buy him a drum kit when they asked him to play in the school band. He listened to a lot of Led Zepplin, among other things. Anthony has played with the Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon, DART and Wade. Michael also listened to Led Zepplin, but branched out to other genres that included artists like Magazine and the Cocteau Twins. Greg Merriman (bass),lives in Mill Valley and is a high-end audio expert. He and Michael like talking about equipment. Cameron Ember writes words and music. Everybody writes their own parts, though occasionally the specific efforts are collaborative (as they often are in general).
Tiny Little Blackouts was formed in 2009 and has released their first album in December. The whole album was made for under $6,000. Damien Rasmussen engineered and produced, along with Tiny Little Blackouts. "idea of Alice" was recorded in a garage called the Catacombs located off Capp Street in San Francisco. Damien's thing is callled smokeandmirrorsaudio and he has recorded tons of people, including Tom Waits. Chris Mayrena at HyperRaje Productions was helpful to TLB's album production as well.
Some of the recent reviews:
"Tiny Little Blackouts is what indie musicians often strive for and fail at, which has turned the genre into a cliché: delightful music with just the right amount of irony."
Abbey K. Davis of Muzikreviews.com
From Absolute Zero Media Magazine 1/23/2010
"This is very much a shoegazer meets Dream pop sound that Tiny Little
Blackout create. The lush soft but very well sung female vocal with the
droney, lazy, bluesy fuzzed out guitars a warm deep bass line and very jazz
meets post rock drumming is whats going on. Think bands like Belly, Curve,
The Gathering and The Cardigans is all the bands that really come to mind
here. Tiny Little Blackouts have a very 60's Pop feeling to the over all
sound to what there creating . I'm really impressed by what I'm hearing. The
production is monstrous as well " Idea of Alice" as that Phil Spector
production to it if you know where I'm going from. This is another label I'm
not heard from before on any regular basis but if there material is all like
this then more power and send more releases for review as Tiny Little
Blackouts are making me fall in love with pop music for the 1st time in
years. As I go through this review you know who this band most sounds like
to me is when the band LOW has female vocals going on. I finally got to
pinpoint the sound I was hearing. Fantastic work here."
http://azm-magazine.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-reviews-1232010.html
Review from the UK's Unpeeled
It's still half-past January and that means that a new edition of 'The Indie Bible' has hit the streets. This
is a directory that "contains 4,000 publications from around the world that will review your cd!". All that
means to us is a flood of very earnest and very average music from America and this year, we're still
going to listen to all of it, but we'll only be reviewing the very bad and the very good and, yes, it's often
a fine line, but we'll get really wasted and crack on and... recommend Tiny Little Blackouts. They're
from San Francisco and they're adding beautifully disquieting touches to slick indie guitar slow burn
on their debut album, "Idea Of Alice".
http://unpeeled.net/
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