Kelli Shay Hicks (2 items)
- Artist: Kelli Shay Hicks
- Title: Buck Again
- Format: CD
- Label: Carbon Records
- Price:
$10.00$6.00 (40% sale) - Catalog ID: CR144
“A needle in one arm and a bouquet in the other”. This is Kelli Shay's first full-length album. The thirteen tracks here were recorded in 2005 in Chicago with Butchy Fuego of Pit er Pat. Buck Again is not unlike Kelli's live performances in its sparseness, but each song flows into the other with the addition of ambient sounds that weave through an instrumentation consisting of little more than guitar, autoharp, violin, and voice. [Each package is unique-- hand-painted in gold and silkscreened in Nashville, Tennessee at Isle of Printing.] “She sounds like Strawberry Shortcake is coming to get me”.
Reviews (1):
Foxy Digitalis
“Bucked Again” is the first full-length from Kelli Shay Hicks, following last year’s three song ep, “Bucked.” Reviews for that disc inevitably focused on the fact that it was produced in a handful of remote locations by independent film maker Jem Cohen (also presumably the inspiration for the new album’s “Jem”).And while she stayed in one place to record “Bucked Again” the album has a wispish intransigence to it that suggests restlessness and a fear of decay.
The packaging adds to the mystique. The disc comes housed in a die-cut cardboard case painted gold; there’s no indication at all of what’s inside. Song titles and credits are then printed on an enclosed single sheet of delicately translucent paper, giving the project an air of otherworldliness.
Once inside, the hushed chamber music feel brings to mind the best solo work of Kristen Hersh (whose debut “Hips and Makers” once guided me safely through a treacherous Rocky Mountains snowstorm as cars all around me careened off the road). The instrumentation primarily consists of Hicks accompanying herself on acoustic guitar and autoharp. Hicks is certainly an inspired fingerpicker. Close your eyes during the brief instrumental “Andy” and it’s not hard to imagine you’re listening to something off a Jack Rose disc
At the same time, though, there are subtle rhythmic touches that add immeasurably to the depth of sound. Listen to Rob Doran’s plucked bass notes as they move across “Go Away” and marvel at the way they emphasize the song’s themes of decaying romance.
Lyrically, Hicks walks that fine line between the vague and the obtuse, seemingly addressing specific people with a sparse poetry. I’m particularly enchanted by “Hospital Song.” She sings:
Don’t you let them look at you
don’t get inside their cars
once inside they try to marry you
and by then you’ve gone to far
volunteers from the hospital
come to try to give you tests
once inside the hospital
on your test you do your best
I’m not quite sure what she means, but I know exactly what she’s getting at, and the irresistible poignancy of the medical metaphor only adds even more weight. This is a disc for dark nights and quiet introspection. I look forward to further uncovering its haunting charms. 8/10 -- Scott Downing (7 August, 2007) - Scott Downing
- Artist: Kelli Shay Hicks
- Title: Bucked
- Format: CD
- Label: Carbon Records
- Price:
$5.00$3.00 (40% sale) - Catalog ID: CR130
a great little EP from Kelli Shay Hicks, clocking in at just under 10min. 3 field recordings of Kelli Shay's amazingly delicate, but sharp, songs-- recorded by Jem Cohen in abandonded urban spaces off the hi-ways of upstate New York. "Kelli Hicks is well versed in the timeless. While her minimalist finger picking style, gentle voice, and wry lyrics recall the 'New Americana' movement, she’s not pretending. When you see her play, it becomes clear: This is Kelli Hicks’ music. Nothing else..." -- Chad Oliveiri, City Newspaper. "Kelli Hicks has a voice to break your heart. Her music is haunting and playful… I’m left quietly devastated." -Davey Rothbart, FOUND Magazine. [packaged in a chip-board folder with 2-color silk-screen artwork. co-release with Atone Records] - check out more info on Kelli - www.kellishayhicks.com
Reviews (4):
FOUND Magazine
Kelli Shay Hicks has a voice to break your heart. Her music is haunting and playful... I’m left quietly devastated. - Davey Rothbart
City Newspaper
Kelli Hicks is well versed in the timeless. While her minimalist finger picking style, gentle voice, and wry lyrics recall the ‘New Americana’ movement, she’s not pretending. When you see her play, it becomes clear: This is Kelli Hicks’ music. Nothing else... Kelli Shay Hicks - Chad Oliveiri
Foxy Digitalis
Well, it’s not every three-song solo acoustic EP that comes in a package with these words on it: “Recorded by Jem Cohen.” But ‘tis true, Ms. Hicks was recorded by the famous indie filmmaker/F.O.F. (Friend of Fugazi) in what are described on her website as “abandoned urban spaces in upstate New York.” Hicks herself has also worked as a filmmaker and film preservationist at the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY, so I guess that explains it, call me Encyclopedia Brown.
Now based in Nashville, Hicks plays spare, folk-inspired music that dances around you, then sprints away before you can ask its name. Her lyrics are strange aphorisms: “Some other organ’s grafted where my heart’s supposed to go...Half of not’s still never, so there’s really no halfway.” It takes some effort to focus on them, too, thanks to the ambient noise that suffuses the EP. Hicks’ MySpace site features some more songs with more fleshed-out arrangements (including Hicks herself on the autoharp), and they provide an even better showcase for her oddly angled approach to songwriting. Kelli Shay Hicks - Sal Addays
Athens Banner-Herald
This is not the banal story of a doe-eyed Midwestern girl, with a big voice and three chords, who migrates to Nashville in search of Country and Western riches.
Truth is singer-songwriter Kelli Shay Hicks, performing at Flicker Theatre on Monday, came to Tennessee for the movies. No, she's not looking for music-to-silver screen crossover success; she's a film preservationist."I came here for work," she says. "I take care of old film collections. It has brought me from Chicago, where I spent my college years, to upstate New York to Nashville. I play music wherever I go."
Of course, being in a town with a musical reputation doesn't hurt."There's a lot going on in Nashville besides Music Row. I haven't been here long, but like anyplace, you can find a niche," she says, adding, "I play fiddle in a band called Mother's Best and sometimes we'll busk on the streets. It's a lot of fun."
Hicks is on the road in support of the recently released "Bucked" (Carbon Records), a three-song EP recorded spontaneously and without pretense in "abandoned strip malls off the upstate New York highways on very simple equipment."
The field recording, of sorts, was recorded by filmmaker Jem Cohen who has worked with musicians in the past; most notably R.E.M., Cat Power and Vic Chesnutt. It's no accident the man known for capturing artists on Super 8 or 16mm and the performer who preserves films collaborated to create a record that exudes a cinematic quality. "Bucked" is a record listeners can see.If the EP can not satiate your audio appetite, rest assured Hicks has plans to release a full-length, titled "Buck Again," as soon as a suitable record label can be found. An advance copy of the mastered mix reveals more of the ethereal sound Hicks can conjure with her sparse guitar, lilting voice and autoharp. - David Eduardo