MP3 Julie Christensen and Stone Cupid - Where the Fireworks Are

There's a seventies folk-rock bent to these songs addressing the state of a world out of balance. "--a collection.spanning the emotional spectrum. It provides an evocative musical chariot for Christensen to weave her vocal magic." -Brett Leigh-Dicks

13 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Folk-Rock, AVANT GARDE: Avant-Americana

Show all album songs: Where the Fireworks Are Songs


Details:
Julie Christensen continues on her new path and creative quest, with a new album out and a new burst of activity. Her voice found a home in the L.A. post-punk band Divine Horsemen and, for years, as a spotlighted singer with Leonard Cohen. With the 2006 release Something Familiar, she added another genre feather to the cap: jazz.
Now, she has freshly finished a more typically personal brew of pop, soul, rock and artful lyrics, Where the Fireworks Are. She has been previewing the long labored-over CD at various venues. Joining her is her group Stone Cupid, with keyboardist/creative cohort Karen Hammack, guitarist Joe Woodard, drummer Tom Lackner, and bassists Steve Nelson or Jack Joshua.
Where the Fireworks Are is Christensenâs most ambitious solo album to date. It may be also be the most topical, with songs addressing the state of a world out of balance. It features mostly original tracks, sprinkled with uniquely retooled covers, including Elvis Costelloâs âShipbuildingâ and Randy Newmanâs "I Think it's Going to Rain Today", and David Byrneâs âPsycho Killer.â
Christensen, with Hammack in tow, did some of the basic tracks in Brooklyn with noted jazz drummers Jeff Ballard and Kenny Wollesen, and has decamped for much of the subsequent tracking and overdub work at the Tompound in Santa Barbara, along with other studios. The list of musical collaborators includes Lackner, Woodard, and Steve Nelson, pedal steel players Greg Liesz and Bill Flores, guitarist Buckethead, keyboardist Dave Palmer, saxist Tom Buckner, and multi-instrumentalist and singer Kenny Edwards.
Christensenâs first solo album should have been released in 1990, after she worked on it with producer Todd Rundgren at his Bearsville studio. Alas, the album got caught up in record company snafus and it has remained on the shelves all these years. Meanwhile, Christensen took the DIY route and made two fine albums, Love is Driving (1997) and Soul Driver (2001), on her own Stone Cupid label.
Among Christensenâs present musical activities, her connection to Leonard Cohenâs world continues, as a featured member of the Cohen tribute projects produced by Hal Willner. The tributeâs Sydney Opera House concerts became the core of the acclaimed documentary, Leonard Cohen: Iâm Your Man, featuring Christensen and her longtime ally (and fellow Ojai-an) Perla Batalla on the classic Cohen song âAnthem.â
The Willner-produced concert series, dubbed Came So Far for Beauty, had two more performances in Dublin, Ireland last October, where Julie participated, singing a duet with Lou Reed, and joined a cast including Laurie Anderson, Nick Cave, Beth Orton, Jarvis Cocker and many others. When Reed performed a special concert at UCSBâs Campbell Hall later that same month, Christensen sat in on the song, âJoan of Arc,â and easily won the crowdâs affection.
The ink on Where the Fireworks Are is still wet, the mixes moist, and the new music fresh and warm and ready for a healthy life. Christensen continues her forward motion.
On the web:
http://www.stonecupid.com
http://www.myspace.com/juliechristensenandstonecupid
http://www.householdink.com/juliechristensen.htm

"From the heart-wrenching title track, which serves up an aching does of harsh reality, to the cascading piano that drives the plaintive âSomething Pretty,â Where the Fireworks Are is a collection of songs spanning the emotional spectrum. It provides an evocative musical chariot for Christensen to weave her vocal magic." (Brett Leigh-Dicks) VC REPORTER


"Julie Christensen is one of the truer singers youâll ever hear â straight up, no mannerisms, perfect taste...She's got an engraver's way of etching/buffing a lyric. Listen to her takes on âBut Beautiful,â âStolen Momentsâ and âBlame It on My Youth,â from her piercing new Something Familiar, and recognize how she could sing with both Leonard Cohen and Chris D."
(Greg Burk) L.A. WEEKLY