A musician, vocalist and songwriter, Shannon Wright is one of the revelations of the new folk scene of the USA. Her style is a sophisticate hybrid of rock and chamber music. But all her songs were born "from the pit of the gut"
Shannon Wright is one of the most talented songwriter of the new folk-rock scene of the USA. Her delicate piano & guitar harmonies are played wonderfully by her versatile voice. Though the influence of guys like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Suzanne Vega is clear, the Wright's style is out of time, far from the fashions and the stereotypes. It's an eclectic style that could be tender and dark, soft and wild, at the same time. Her lyrics are mostly about metropolitan loneliness and neurosis. But differently from other contemporary "post-punk" songwriters such as Alanis Morrissette and PJ Harvey, Wright prefers a more intimate and deep approach that recalls the minimalist attitude of Lisa Germano and the sepulchral litanies of Nico.
Born in Jacksonville (Florida), Shannon Wright started her career as the leader of the Crowsdell, a indie-rock band which was on the Big Cat label together with groups such as Dirty Three, Pavement, Blumfeld and Giant Sand. Gone to New York, Shannon had to face difficult moments. The band experience wasn't lucky, so Shannon decided to abandon the urban life and move to the countryside, in a farm near Pittsboro, North Carolina. It was the beginning of her renaissance. "In New York I couldn't write my songs anymore", she told. "I felt constantly crowded and claustrophobic. And the music business was disheartening me. The wide open spaces made me feel more comfortable".
The Crowsdell works (Dreamette and Within The Curve Of An Arm) were in the style of an alternative roots-rock. Wright's solo music was slightly different as her debut album Flight Safety (1999) revealed. Marked by hushed chamber pop arrangements, it was an album full of hope and desperation at the same time. Tracks such as "Floor Pile", with a romantic violoncello on the background, "All These Things", a gloomy blues-waltz with an organ arrangement, "Twilight Hall", a dramatic ode to solitude, or the delicate "Heavy Crown" were desolate soundscapes that recalled the most touching moments of Neil Young. But Wright showed to be a talented musician too, playing guitar, drums, piano, wurlitzer, hammond organ and keyboards (with a little help from Joey Burns of Calexico on the nylon guitar and the bass guitar). Wright's songs are mainly the result of improvisation: "Sometimes I will just pick up a guitar and write a song and lyrics come out and it all just comes out. Then sometimes I'll just really write a bunch of notes that I am playing on the piano or the guitar".
The following album Maps Of Tacit (2000) is even more desperate. Wright's music got darker ("Dirty Facade", "Fences Of Pales", "Flask Welder"), but the result is more hermetic and uncertain. All doubts about her talent were swept away in 2001 by Dyed In The Wool, her most thrilling work. Wright took out a bunch of charming songs and showed to be an accomplished pianist too. Her voice, always wild and desperate, can be tender whispers in the style of Suzanne Vega and Siouxsie Sioux-ian demoniac howling as well. Just listen to the frightening "Less Than A Moment" or the dark "The Sable". You can also find a sense of tenderness ("Bells") and a painful nostalgia ("The Hem Around Us"). But it's her theatrical and dark side to be the most impressive at the end, as you can notice in the lied of "Hinterland", with a grave piano on the background, or in the instrumental "Colossal Hours", with a thrilling "piano & percussions" arrangement. It's a peculiar mélange of Renaissance elegies and horror movies, Southern-Gothic atmospheres and Expressionism, Brecht and Faulkner.
That album and her exhibitions as a supporter of Calexico gave Shannon the success she deserved, taking to light her original cross-over between rock, folk and Classical chamber music. A formula made of interesting lyrics too. "Things that inspire me for lyrics are people that are really saying something that is coming from their heart. So if I read something that way then that inspires me because that is what I try to do", she told. And about musically? "Same thing really. I like all different types of music. Mostly I like music that is very driven from the pit of the gut". And Shannon's solo performances are really "from the pit of the gut". "I'm pretty comfortable up there by myself", she revealed. "I think the reason that I am comfortable is that it feels more honest. I am a lot freer to do what I want to do. Sometimes with the songs live I'll take them in different places than they are on the record. Sometimes you can't just decide that you are going to take this song in a different place when you have a band that's not going to know what the hell you are doing. When it seems that it is the time to do that live, emotionally for me at least, I like the freedom of being able to do that".
History :
1998 : Shannon Wright spilt up her band Crowsdell and becomes a hermit away from the world
1999 : release of Flightsafety (Quarterstick / Touch and Go)
2000 : release of Maps of Tacit (Quarterstick / Touch and Go)
2001 : release of Perishable Goods (Quarterstick / Touch and Go /Vicious Circle)
2001 : release of Dyed In The Wool (Quarterstick / Touch and Go/Vicious Circle)
2004 : release of Over The Sun (Quarterstick / Touch and Go/Vicious Circle)
2005 : Shannon Wright publishes with composer Yann Tiersen "Yann Tiersen & Shannon Wright" (Ici D'ailleurs)
