Wolverhampton based singer songwriter Alex Vann is releasing his first album of original music since his“Silhouettes and Pirouettes” 4 CD collection of 2014.
“YOU SHINE” contains 14 original songs, 60 minutes of music and features over 20 guest musicians.
Alex said: “To say recording my first album in 8 years has been a labour of love would be an understatement! It’s a deeply personal collection of songs which span 25 years of writing. I recorded the demoes, on various devices, and I worked with Mark and Sheena at M2 Studios in Coven, Wolverhampton throughout 2022 to pull all these different recordings (‘stems’) together. We then made new recordings of live drums, bass guitar, vocals, and string arrangements to raise the songs to a highly professional level and spent a long time on careful mixing and mastering. I’m very proud of this album, there have been no compromises on quality and it represents the sound I’ve long wanted to achieve. I hope people enjoy listening to it.”
Throughout the Covid 19 lockdwns a lot of musicians collaborated remotely using digital tools and Alex reached out to fellow musicians in this way to add colour and depth to some of the tracks, some of which were written with Leicester based writer and choir leader, Carl Hodson. Nick Chadd provides drums and percussion and Martin Betts and Richard Smith appear on bass guitar. Most of the vocals, guitars, extra bass, piano and
programming were done by Alex.
The oldest song on the album is ‘Rich Without Money’, written in Dublin in 1995, and the most recent were created during the pandemic of 2020, some reflecting the events in Alex’s own life. There is a wide range of musical styles to keep listeners engaged and songs that tell stories (real or imagined) about people, places and perspectives.
‘Open Up’ is another song from the 90s but could be a song about the ending of lockdowns.
An album review from local writer and performer Billy Spakemon:
“When you listen to Alex Vann's songs and music you immediately begin to smile. Melodies and hook lines are infectious. Then, the words begin to sink in and the narratives, that may have been initially masked by the great arrangements, hit home and you feel yourself go: Wow!
There are some sharp observations of life experiences, some pieces have a 1960s feel about them but with a contemporary twist. Others like 'Ode to The Sneyd' lean towards the Magna Carta period of British Folk. “
The album artwork was designed by Alex and features drawings from sessions that Alex ran with his company Real Arts Workshops (RAW). RAW encourages people of all ages and abilities to engage with making art and the drawings are indigenous ‘dot painting’ made by Alex, his daughter Olivia, and his partner Gary.
There is also a photo montage showing band rehearsals and recording sessions and pictures from the family album including Alex’s dad and mum, who passed away in 2019 - the song ‘Shirley Jean’ on the album is about her.
Alex is encouraging people to make their own dot paintings and send them to: alexvanndesign@gmail.com -
you could win a prize!!
“You Shine” is released on Monday 31 st October 2022 and is available to pre-order from the Bandcamp site now.
