nessymon.com

Tag: Flags

  • Brooke Fraser: Live At The Sugar Club Review

    Brooke Fraser It’s a nice Spring evening (April 9th), I stroll casually from Stephen’s Green, where I’d been enjoying the fresh air, to The Sugar Club, two minutes walk away. It’s just after seven thirty and to my surprise, there’s a queue winding its way past the venue and up Leeson St.

    Talking to others in the queue becomes quite an eye opener as to how popular Brooke Fraser actually is. Two Canadian girls tell me they have flown from Toronto and yes, they have seen Ms Fraser before. Wow! This should be good so.

    Warming up the stage for Fraser is Liz Lawrence, who along with Harry on cajon, really get the crowd going. We all have preconceived notions about singer songwriters and about female ones. They’re all going to sound like Mid American whingers. Not the case with Lawrence she combines genres to create her own sound and has an energy which forces her to dance with her guitar while she sings. (more…)

  • Interview with Brooke Fraser

    Brooke Fraser 1 (by Nirrimi Hakanson)New Zealander, Brooke Fraser, has just released her new album ‘Flags’ and is currently on tour in Europe. She stops off in Dublin on April 9th for a Sold Out gig at The Sugar Club. Brooke took some time out from her schedule to answer a few questions for nessymon.com

    Hi Brooke, Thanks for taking the time to answer these. How are you and where are you?

    I am well, currently in London town about to head to Paris (sounds very exotic).

    You had a break from music for a while, what was it about Coachella that made you fall in love with music again, the people, the community or was it just Fleet Foxes?

    I didn’t have a break from music and I think that was the problem! My last album was three years of hard touring so at the end of that I was burnt out and didn’t even want to look at my guitar. I wouldn’t say Coachella made me fall in love with music again as I was never out of love with it, simply very doubtful about my own ability to make anymore meaningful contributions to it! Coachella was like a breeze on an ember in that I experienced, as an audience member, a ‘perfect moment’ – the setting was gorgeous (sunset in the desert), the temperature was perfect, the crowd was small but devoted, the sound was great and the music was pure and powerful. It’s funny because Robin Pecknold made an apology at the end – perhaps their monitors were bad so they’d thought they’d had a stinker – so for him it might have been an awkward, forgettable gig, for me it changed my year! (more…)

  • Brooke Fraser: Flags Review

    brooke-fraser-flagsWho is Brooke Fraser? She’s a New Zealander who has released three albums. Flags, her latest album is the first to get a full release here. I’ve been listening to this album for about two weeks and Fraser reminds me of a couple of different artists. She’s like a Sarah McLachlan with a dash of Tara McLean and perhaps Norah Jones.

    The album opens with current single, Something in the Water. It’s hardly surprising that this has been nominated for a Australian Performing Rights Association, Song of The Year award. It’s uptempo, bells and whistles, catchy and totally singalongable. The whole album is produced by Fraser also and she has done a great job. Everything sounds organic and is spaced beautifully, there’s different things happening all around the soundscape making this an aural feast. (more…)