Tori Sparks
The melange of textures contained within Tori Sparks' sophomore release will tickle at least 6
of your 5 senses. Under This Yellow Sun was produced by David Henry (R.E.M., Ben Fdds, Vienna Teng,
Josh Rouse, Jill Sobule, Widespread Panic, Indigo Girls, Cowboy Junkies) and Sparks herself - which
was fun, and involved trumpets as well as banging on sheet metal. Steve Bowman from the Counting Crows,
Aaron Sands from Jars of Clay, John Deaderick (Patty Griffin, Lucinda Williams) and other impressive
players added their personal panache to the raw energy of Tori's music. Imagine an altema-roots-rock, folkaddicted
lovechild of Shawn Colvin and Ron Sexsmith, with enough soul to last all night. The album includes
a quirky bonus music video of the song "Cold War," directed by Wayne Hall.
Tori recorded her debut album Rivers + Roads under the auspices of an independent label that ultimately
folded. In 2006 the fearless chanteuse emerged from the wreckage, and dove into eight did months of
exhaustive touring, radio, and videpoomotion. Stations in the US, Belgium, Australia, Canada, New
Zealand, Ireland, France, and England were supportive of Rivers + Roads, which lead to tours in Ireland,
England, France, and the U.S.
One of the aforementioned eight months was devoted to The Feed Your Soul
Guitar Project, a tour and folk art auction benefiting Oxfam America. ASCAP, The Village Voice, Paste
Magazine Online, Northeast InTune Magazine, NBC, ABC, FOX, the Women's Right to Rock Music
Festival and other papers and publications thought this was pretty cool and said so. The music video Rivers +
Roads was selected Best Pop Video by the 2006 lndie Gathering and was played on regional video networks
and military reels across the globe, including national network Music Choice. Sparks was also a Unisong
International Songwriting Contest Finalist for her politically charged tune 'The Poster Child," and again in
2007 for "Cold War." She has organized and held numerous album and video release parties in Nashville and Tampa,
as well as a string of fall concerts.
Quotes from the press:
"The talented Tori Sparks... is a knockout..."
--Joe McCombs, The Village Voice
'Tori can make you believe in something whether you want to or not. Shea has the puries vocals I've heard since
Kate Bush."
--Rebecca Hosking, Music News Nashville
'Like Natalie Merchant and Madeline Peyroux getting together to do heroin ... in an awesome sultry way.'
--CJ Watson
'[Tori] should add The Pretenders to [her] list of influences. In a good way. I'd take that any day."
--Ben Folds
'Sparks... [has] stuck to her muse and it was exactly what people wanted."
--John Stoehr; Savannah Morning News
'I found her vocal stylings interesting, dierent... her music possesses a grit and angst not heard much today...'
--Brooke Welu, Northeast InTune Magazine
'Tori can rock so seductively then revert to a striking emotive process... there is nothing formulaic that you can
pigeon-hole.'
--Carmine Pascuni; Media Search (Australia)
MSSVision.com
for Tori Sparks
January 4, 2008 |
