Though the concept ofHeadless Heroes' The Silence of Love, out May 19, was dreamt up by a chap named Eddie Bezalel and produced by Hugo Nicolson, its immediate focus is the voice of one Alela Diane. It's a simple, beautiful collection of lost classics and unearthed gems sung with arresting clarity by Diane, Nevada City's emerging folk star, whose Rough Trade debut,To Be Still, was released this past February.
For some, listening to The Silence of Love will be a process of discovery or rediscovery of songs that may otherwise have been lost in time, inspiring deeper delvings back to the original sources. The Headless Heroes’ interpretations, however, are gloriously fresh creations in themselves. All bittersweet and of love and loss, the songs chosen by Nicolson and Bezalel (with a few thrown in by David Holmes) span over 40 years of time — from Daniel Johnston, The Jesus & Mary Chain and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds back to Vashti Bunyan, Linda Perhacs and The Gentle Soul.
Says Bezalel, "I just wanted to make an album with great musicians and great songs…the rest would work itself out." Inspired initially on hearing Terry Durham’s "Crystal Telephone" at LA's Amoeba Records, Bezalel got producer Hugo Nicolson on board, who then sifted through his record collection and started to put the musicians together. It was Bezalel who found Alela; he came across her online, and upon hearing her voice, he instantly knew she was the one to carry the tunes. Alela, whose self-released album, The Pirate’s Gospel, was Rough Trade Shops' Album of The Year 2007, was excited about using her her voice in new ways, as well as the fact that the project was not based around her own material. "It was quite liberating to just sing! And not worry about it being my record, or it being different from the type of music that I’m used to making." Describing The Silence of Loveas pure fun, she notes, "I was able to use all different parts of my voice, from what I do in my own songs, to what I learned while singing in the school choir."
Headless Heroes will be performing live in the US in late Fall 2009.
A stream for The Silence of Love is available here:
www.denofheroes.com/
Headless Heroes: The Silence of Love
Headless Heroes; May 19, 2009
http://www.myspace.com/denofheroes
For some, listening to The Silence of Love will be a process of discovery or rediscovery of songs that may otherwise have been lost in time, inspiring deeper delvings back to the original sources. The Headless Heroes’ interpretations, however, are gloriously fresh creations in themselves. All bittersweet and of love and loss, the songs chosen by Nicolson and Bezalel (with a few thrown in by David Holmes) span over 40 years of time — from Daniel Johnston, The Jesus & Mary Chain and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds back to Vashti Bunyan, Linda Perhacs and The Gentle Soul.
Says Bezalel, "I just wanted to make an album with great musicians and great songs…the rest would work itself out." Inspired initially on hearing Terry Durham’s "Crystal Telephone" at LA's Amoeba Records, Bezalel got producer Hugo Nicolson on board, who then sifted through his record collection and started to put the musicians together. It was Bezalel who found Alela; he came across her online, and upon hearing her voice, he instantly knew she was the one to carry the tunes. Alela, whose self-released album, The Pirate’s Gospel, was Rough Trade Shops' Album of The Year 2007, was excited about using her her voice in new ways, as well as the fact that the project was not based around her own material. "It was quite liberating to just sing! And not worry about it being my record, or it being different from the type of music that I’m used to making." Describing The Silence of Loveas pure fun, she notes, "I was able to use all different parts of my voice, from what I do in my own songs, to what I learned while singing in the school choir."
Headless Heroes will be performing live in the US in late Fall 2009.
A stream for The Silence of Love is available here:
www.denofheroes.com/
Headless Heroes: The Silence of Love
Headless Heroes; May 19, 2009
**** - MOJO
“Rich, dark and warming like heavy velvet curtains against a cruel winter night.” - Guardian Pick of the Week
“The Silence of Love is actually a small but perfectly formed jewel of a record.” - Q
"...the musical possibilities raised among the talents involved make this a memorable reinvention and retrospective of popular and rare American music." - Evil Monito
"Given the prowess of Diane, the quality of the covers chosen and the high degree of uniqueness of the covers themselves, this is clearly an album worth tracking down." - Citizen Dick
