 | Rykarda Parasol For Blood and Wine (CD) |
Bio:
"Challenging gender and genre with her musical and lyrical prowess, Rykarda Parasol is at once raw and earnest, sensual and callous with just enough wit and wry humor to make it all go down sweet and easy. For Blood and Wine is an intoxicating swig of bitters and a trace of lipstick on a stubbled cheek." – The Big Takeover
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On The Web:
www.rykardaparasol.com
www.facebook.com/rykardamusic
www.myspace.com/rykardaparasol
www.twitter.com/rykardamusic
www.youtube.com/user/rykardaparasol
Bio (Continued):
Describing her sound as “rock noir”, Rykarda Parasol’s music evokes moody cinema drenched in gin and white-collar crime. Her personal songs depict bad love and bad deeds in stark simplicity. The music draws comparisons to Nick Cave, Nico and The Velvet Underground, The Black Heart Procession and Johnny Cash. At times, her music has been mislabeled “Americana,” but Parasol’s upbringing was fairly un-American. Born in Poland, Parasol’s father narrowly escaped the Holocaust, lost his family, and grew up on a Kibbutz in Israel. Her Swedish mother was raised amongst the starkness of snow and would have inherited the title “Countess” had her great-grandfather not denounced his title in joining the Socialist party. These contrasting lives always intrigued Parasol: Some are born to the unluckiest of circumstances and seek their fortune and others are born to fortune, but abandon it. Far from her parents’ Europe, Parasol grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Pursuing music was not a welcome topic in the family home. Parasol was encouraged to be a lawyer, an accountant, or an architect… anything but a musician. It was for vagabonds and not for children who had an appreciation for their parents’ struggles. Music was not a real life skill. Unsure of her own abilities and lacking support, Parasol quietly explored music and art not knowing where it could or should lead. Training to be graceful and strongly refined, Parasol joined her sisters in competitive figure skating. Yet, occasionally, Parasol couldn’t help but to scribe expletives into the shallow ice. Even at a young age, the company of sweet and sour was hard to resist.
Parasol’s interest in music never wavered, however, and after college, she relocated to Los Angeles and then to Austin, Texas, where songwriting became her preferred pastime. She wrote about her life and the missteps along the way, a boyfriend’s fatal motorcycle accident, to another’s fatal heart attack, and a train that lulled her to sleep. Parasol took musical inspiration from The Doors, Serge Gainsbourg, Erik Satie and Edith Piaf. Her penchant for the darker stuff is perhaps a genetic trait passed down from her Scandinavian mother whose Bergman-like bedtime stories were filled with gothic gloom intended to rile not lull. For Parasol there was no shortage of struggle and conflict.
Parasol’s own words reached even further into the shadows of emotion. Further influenced by the written works of Frank O’Hara and Milton to modern screenwriters such as Woody Allen and Tarantino, Parasol was profoundly interested in dialogue and the internal sound of words themselves, their symbolism, and the gestures in molding their meaning. She studied opera too and trained her once tone-deaf ears to sing in tune and enjoyed the underpinning of story with the dramatics of music. Her style quickly becoming something unto itself, Parasol returned to her hometown and recorded her debut EP Here She Comes which was quickly followed by a full-length, Our Hearts First Meet. The album was released in 2006 and Parasol found her writing being compared to William Faulkner, Nick Cave, and Johnny Cash among others. Lauded by critics from San Francisco to Berlin, Our Hearts First Meet was named “undisputed album of the year” in 2007 by Germany’s leading music magazine, Westzeit Magazine.
Parasol’s masterful follow-up album For Blood and Wine is now set for a national release on February 16, 2010. “For this record, I wanted to tell my stories with a nod to my city’s roots,” Parasol explains. “San Francisco was once a settlement town filled with outlaws and gold miners. It was referred to as ‘The Barbary Coast’ back then.. This city may not otherwise be bearable without connecting to its lore. But of course, the record’s lyrics are also inspired by certain English poets: William Auden, Christina Rossetti, and in particular ‘The Ballad of Reading Goal’ by Oscar Wilde. This time around I focused even more so on the lyrics and inner rhythm of the sound of words themselves, their meaning, and all over poetic devices. Symbolism is my weakness.” The album was self-produced by Parasol and is a true-life narrative depicting the progress and downward spiral of a rake, which in this case is female. “It’s witty, darkly romantic, edgy and elegant… It’s tales of infidelity, addiction, and death. Mostly sad, but some real moments of joy and hope,” Parasol states.
Parasol’s vocal style on For Blood and Wine is as diverse as any. At times she employs bluesy intonation with a low tone and other times she sweeps high into a falsetto clouds. But what you can hear most often, is a conversation-like intimacy, almost talking. Inspired by femme fatales in film noir, Parasol was taken by the crackling voice qualities of actresses like Lauren Bacall and Barbara Stanwick and sought to develop her lower register. Parasol was intrigued by both the austerity of such voices and the power they seemed to have to capture a listener. “Screaming,” she says, “drives men away. Whispers draw them in.”
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Rykarda Parasol has shared the stage with artists such as Frank Black, Jason Collett, Jolie Holland, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Kirsten Hirsh and American Music Club and worked with Blixa Bargeld (of Einstürzende Neubauten and Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds) on the stage production of his “Execution of Precious Memories.” Parasol has also collaborated with The Bellmer Dolls and German hip-hop artists, Ancient Astronauts, and performed at South-By-Southwest, The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, and Germany’s Orange Blossom Festival. She has toured the US and Europe, taking her band to Germany, France, and Poland.
Press Quotes:
“The lady to watch.” – The Deli
“The ‘rock noir’ chanteuse from San Francisco is all about shadowy atmosphere... weirdly gorgeous.” – Falling James, Los Angeles Weekly
“Undisputed Album of the Year! 2008” – Westzeit, Germany’s Premier Rock Magazine
“If Nick Cave had a uterus and was impregnated by Johnny Cash, Rykarda Parasol would be their talented daughter with the low voice.” – Crawdaddy.com
“A genuine musical force in her own right. She’s just what I need.” – The San Francisco Bay Guardian
“Fans who take to her have done so fully, offering up comparisons to everything from Edith Piaf to a Tarantino movie soundtrack, two auteurs with similar niche appeal. – Venus
“In the lazy, hazy tradition of fellow salvation shucksters Nick Cave and Siouxsie Sioux. Delivering a smoky, gin tinged salve to soothe the souls of the wicked.” – Austin Chronicle
“Rykarda Parasol is simply thrilling… each song is a pearl and entirely special.” – Radio Hamburg, Germany
On The Web:
www.rykardaparasol.com
www.facebook.com/rykardamusic
www.myspace.com/rykardaparasol
www.twitter.com/rykardamusic
www.youtube.com/user/rykardaparasol