Kalamazoo Klub
Eva Abraham — a class act if ever there was one and a singer, as someone said , with the passion of Patti Smith and the soul of Stevie Wonder. A knock-em-dead performer with a repertoire that ranges from Nashville country stompers, to her haunting and soulful self-penned ballads.
Eva Abraham — a class act if ever there was one and a singer, as someone said , with the passion of Patti Smith and the soul of Stevie Wonder. A knock-em-dead performer with a repertoire that ranges from Nashville country stompers, to her haunting and soulful self-penned ballads.
JCW Acoustic Double Album Review ~ By Kay Williams
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Quote ~ Jane Wrafter Founder
of JCW Fitness |
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It's such an honour and a treat to hear a voice of such clarity, beauty and depth; a voice that literally bathes you when you hear it live. This is the experience you receive if you have the good fortune to be stretching or relaxing at the end of a Yoga, Pilates or Fit Toned Fab class at JCW Fitness.
Eva's JCW double album is a treat as you can literally take her home with you! The album is what you hear, just one voice one guitar, simple and perfect, highly recommended 5 Stars ***** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eva Abraham: Cold Light ReviewPosted: July 16, 2012
The team at Caravan have been busy recommending Darkus Magazine many amazing artists’ to check out. One of their recent signings, who also happened to take my breath away, was Eva Abraham. As many know female solo artists are like gold dust especially in such a male dominated industry, so when I hear of a female making her mark, Darkus is always happy to support a women’s presence in the music industry. The track which captivated me, due to the beauty of Eva’s voice was ‘Cold Light’. It’s quite a chilled out song, with a pace that just relaxes the listener. Just listening to this song made me feel butterflies inside me because it is so elegantly done. The lyrics are deep and meaningful as well, so when you listen careful to the words you don’t just warm to Eva, but it is as though you feel a real connection to the music as well. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2009 Full Circle Album Launch - Review by Sarah Ellen HughesIt was a confident and charming Eva Abraham who strode onto the Jazz Café stage last Wednesday. She was there to launch her second album Full Circle, which comprised most of the set, although she included 3 or 4 from her first album Shadow Gazing.
She began with the first track of the album, Babe you know me, which she sang whilst playing the piano. Eva immediately showed her mettle as a confident and experienced singer and musician – her ability to sing to the crowd whilst both playing the piano and communicating with her band was endearing. Eva quickly got up from the piano and transferred to guitar, which provided an excellent backdrop to her luscious voice. I preferred the timbre of her songs with guitar: it seemed that she did too, as the guitar appeared to free her up – she unleashed a more daring side to her voice - it grabbed the attention more completely. I found her style and voice reminiscent of All About Eve’s Julianne Regan, especially during Breathe - it which reminded me of Martha’s Harbour. For this song, Eva chose to abandon her instruments and be accompanied by solo cello. I found this to be an interesting choice, but it wasn’t to my taste for an entire song, as Eva with exemplary dynamic control and tuning was let down by some waywardness in both from the cellist. She found a better match in a vocal and piano duet for the next song – Bittersweet Goodbye – and I appreciated the variety of tones, dynamics and timbres that this brought to the set as a whole. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'Shadow Gazing Review By
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Eva sings regularly at our classes at JCW Fitness in Muswell Hill - she sings two songs at the end of the class as the members stretch and relax.
We all absolutely love having Eva sing live for us, she now has a huge loyal fan base at JCW Fitness, and we all love the magical and special atmosphere she creates in the class. Her voice is truly incredible, and her song-writing skills are amazing. Eva brings something very special to our classes and we are hugely grateful and blessed to have her share her music with us" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cold Light is taken from Eva’s upcoming Cold Light Experiences which is released this September via Hamworth Music. With a mix of flavours from folk, gypsy, country, ska, cumbia, blues and jazz, it is said to be something special, especially if the song I just listened to is anything to go by. When doing some background research into Eva and her music it made me smile even more to hear that she described The Cold Light Experiences as the end of an era and the beginning of a new chapter. If you want music that is soulful, elegant and a breath of fresh air – this is definitely the one for you. http://sirdarkus.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/eva-abraham-cold-light-review/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As well as Abraham’s versatility to play different instruments, and sing whilst doing so, she has an incredible versatility in her voice, a great ability to float between registers without any thought, and without any loss of intensity or intonation. The band, too, were able to swap their instrumental roles, with the bassist moving onto the piano and the guitarist taking over on the bass. The arrangements were incredibly tight and well-penned. This was a very slick set.
My particular favourite was Eva’s eighth tune Non-stop, which had much energy and was the most memorable of the set. But it was Star – the penultimate track from the album – that really got the crowd going. I left the Jazz Café with a tune or two in my head. But it was a shame that Eva didn’t tell the stories behind any of the tunes. I am sure that there must have been interesting reasons behind their composition, and I wanted to know them. After an hour of her compositions I was left with a nagging wish to feel more connected to her and her story. Despite this, the overall energy and variety in the set was enjoyable, and perhaps I’ll get to know her better as each audience member was given a snippet of Eva to take home with them – a Limited Edition of Full Circle. Review by Sarah Ellen Hughes for London Jazz Blogspot ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'Today And Everyday' is instantly hummable, Eva's voice pulls you in, only for the strings (provided by Instrumental of course, with Zero 7's Crispin Taylor on drums) to pull you in tighter. Refreshingly, unashamedly emotive. While 'Secret Garden' broaches into Bjork-influenced territory, harps creating an undulating landscape on which Eva's voice wanders freely full of expression, while the downward chromatic sliding chords bite at your soul.
Whether you're listening to the intriguing stop-start of Addiction or the gentle melancholy of 'Speak Out', there's not a track on this album which won't have you either humming along almost instantly or hypnotised by its solemn beauty or moved by the powerful lyrics. Believe. It's about time a singer-songwriter of this calibre had the chance to break free. It's about time the world got to know Eva. And it's about time you heard this record. And once you have, you'll wonder how you got by without it. Susanna Glaser ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Abraham's voice is reminiscent of Beth Gibbons from Portishead, in that not many other singers command such absolute control over their voices; a passionate crescendo never descends into a shout-fest. However, Abraham is more adept at creating light and shade, she can really evoke a mood. Perhaps because of their intense subtlety, the songs can meld into each other a bit. This makes it a perfect album for a soak in the bath, with loads of lit candles in the background. Just don't put it on your Ipod for the bus journey to work, or you may never get there. We Say: A stunning debut, definitely an album to dig out for solitary 'me' time. We'll undoubtedly hear much more from this girl soon. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fan Review (amazon) - Shadow GazingEvery now and again a new voice grips your imagination, and Eva Abraham's is one such. It is difficult to describe the quality in her voice - sultry; husky; piercing; disconcerting; but the best I can come up with is haunting. And this album is hauntingly beautiful. Not exactly a bundle of laughs - indeed somewhat intense - her lyrics and music nevertheless stay with you long after playing. Strong stuff, full of passion and belief. I began to compare her with other favourites of mine such as June Tabor and Sinead O'Connor, but the best compliment I can pay her is that she has a voice all of her own. I look forward to her next album, when perhaps we can hear her lighter side.
Reviewer: drgwright from Leeds, West Yorkshire United Kingdom ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rough Trade web review
about time. 'shadow gazing' has already been hailed as a contender for the mercury prize and it's been revered by timeout, dazed and confused and blues and soul. but it's been languishing in the music industry's twilight zone for too long ever since it's 2001 release on city rockers was hampered due to financial problems. so singer-songwriter eva abraham's much anticipated debut album finally gets released through big chill recordings. tracks like 'glowing yellow', show eva's stunning husky voice off to perfection by contrasting her vocals with some spidery scrawled string effects. on production duties was niven garland (portishead) and it's dusty deliciousness may well have had his input. like the best of morcheeba it's laidback without being dull, melancholy and folksy without being staid. or take 'it breaks', deep and mystical building into layers of passionate choral harmonies.
'today and everyday' is instantly hummable, eva's voice pulls you in, only for the strings (provided by instrumental of course, with zero 7's crispin taylor on drums) to pull you in tighter. refreshingly, unashamedly emotive. while 'secret garden' broaches into bjork-influenced territory, harps creating an undulating landscape on which eva's voice wanders freely full of expression, while the downward chromatic sliding chords bite at your soul. a lush and tender album. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
