I went in to a CD Release Show at the Hotel Cafe the other night for Anya Marina. Her sophmore album, Slow & Steady Seduction, Phase II (Chop Shop/Atlantic) comes out December 9^th has been pushed back to January 20th and is overall pretty good. One criticism about the live show was that her voice is a bit high for my taste and doesn’t have a lot of range. But as a live act she was very charming, especially her stage banter. And a cute blonde girl dropping f-bombs in cute stories of her cute day-to-day kept me entertained as if I were seeing a stand up comic. It kinda held my attention more than the rest of the show. The music was ok and was given a bit of depth by a hint of Russian influence. A few songs were a bit grating in their repetitiveness and ultra simplicity but some folks might be into it. Her backing band kept the set spry and featured members of Louis XIV who did a really pro job backing Ms.Marina up.

She is currently on the east coast opening for Jason Mraz (12/4-Clearwater, FL; 12/5-Miami Beach) and I’m guessing will continue on in promotion of her new album. I’m sure it won’t be long before she is back to share her Slow & Steady Seduction around the West Coast.

Edit: 12/5  here are some more Anya Marina tour dates for January:
14 Boston, MA – Great Scott (w/Jason Mraz)
15 Washington DC – DC9 (w/Jason Mraz)
16 Brooklyn – The Bell House (w/Jason Mraz)
17 Philadelphia – Tin Angel (w/Jason Mraz)
20 New York – Mercury Lounge
23 Los Angeles – Hotel Cafe

Here is a sample of Anya Maria you can download; her song “Move You” as featured on Grey’s Anatomy.

Tags: Anya Marina, CD Release, Grey's Anatomy, Hotel Cafe, Jason Mraz, Louis XIV, Singer/Songwriters

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 3:03 am and is filed under Hollywood, Los Angeles, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.