I can't sleep…
Credits:
Gem Club is an American chamber pop band formed in Somerville, Massachusetts in 2010 by singer-songwriter Christopher Barnes.
Using little more than piano, cello, and Christopher Barnes’ heartbreaking, glacial vocals, the Boston duo with Barnes on the piano and Kirsten Drymala on cello creates music that wafts by like a cloud.
Notes:
From Suzannahespie.com:
Suzannah Espie is a Melbourne, Australia based singer songwriter who has been casting spells over audiences ever since she first took to the stage with her alt-country pop band, GIT, in 1997. A woman of compelling beauty — statuesque, with piercing blue eyes framed by golden curls — she has a voice to match, an intoxicating mix of country, soul, blues and pop. A gentle, sweet trill that can move grown men to tears one moment, or an Aretha-esque hellcat belt that can raise the roof the next; however she sings it though, it’s still unmistakeably Suzannah Espie. It is as a solo artist Espie has truly come into her own…
It’s hard to believe now that, despite her prodigious talent, Espie was beset by self-doubt and shyness early on in her career, which she moved to Melbourne from Fremantle at aged 18 to pursue in earnest. She tells of forcing herself to get up at Fitzroy’s Rainbow Hotel to sing once a week. “Then I’d go and have a cry in the toilets afterwards because I thought it was so horrible.”
Collard recalls the first time he went over to Suzannah’s house to play some music together. “Absolutely nothing happened,” he says with a laugh. “She was too nervous to sing a note.”
While Espie’s confidence and profile have grown over the years, she remains as earthy and honest as the music she writes and performs. “I still don’t think I’m a good songwriter. Occasionally I’ll pull a good one out of my arse,” she says in typically straight-talking Suzannah fashion.
Find her album on iTunes: Sea of Lights
Erick Baker, 35, is a singer-songwriter from Knoxville, Tennessee. He didn’t sing or write songs until he enrolled at the University of Tennessee. Baker had picked up the guitar during his college days and played occasionally at parties for fun, by his own admission in hopes of meeting women. While doing a set at an open-mike night in Knoxville, Baker was spotted by a local promoter who gave him a spot opening a show for John Legend and soon buzz about Baker began to spread. He has performed with national acts, including rock musician James Blunt, alternative country musician Brandi Carlile, pop-rock musician Gavin DeGraw, the rock band Goo Goo Dolls, the rock band Heart, R&B artist John Legend.
“My songs belong to every right turn and wrong turn that have led me here,” Baker says. “They reflect the pieces of poetry hidden in the experiences that lie in each of our everyday lives.”
Find this tune on iTunes: Erik Baker: Live At The Bijou Theatre
If you liked this, don’t miss: Erick Baker – Stay Awhile
Credits:
Emilíana Torrini, 37, is an Icelandic singer, best known for her 2009 single “Jungle Drum” (14,000,000+ Youtube views) and for performing “Gollum’s Song” for Peter Jackson’s film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Torrini grew up in Kópavogur, where, at the age of seven, she joined a choir as a soprano, until she went to opera school at the age of 15. Her father is Italian and her mother is Icelandic.
Find this tune on her September, 2013 Album titled Tookah. Find her website @ emilianatorrini.com.