Eleni Mandell

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Eleni Mandell at an appearance

Eleni Mandell (born October 1969 in Los Angeles ) is an American singer-songwriter from California . She is also a member of the indie folk group The Living Sisters - together with Becky Stark (Lavender Diamond) and Inara George (The Bird and the Bee). Her other artistic interests include painting, theater and literature.

Influences & style

Their music is categorized as alternative pop, folk and, albeit rarely, country music. Her musical role model for a long time was Tom Waits with his bulky, rough manner, which Mandell's older records also show. In Miracle of Five , influences from Harry Nilsson can also be seen , whom she indicates as another role model. Nevertheless, this is the first album that is not "based on certain fixed points in music history". For the following album Artificial Fire , she made a small course correction in such a way that the record radiated more joy and had a greater proportion of electrically amplified music.

Three years later, the dpa stated that traditional country music continued to provide the basis for many of their songs, but that “their backward-looking look” also stuck to “teenage rock and roll, pop, swing, jazz and even gospel”.

When the magazine Musikexpress compiled the “700 best songs of all time” for the 700th edition in March 2014, Mandell was like u. a. Lana Del Rey , Marteria and Thees Uhlmann on the prominent jury of experts made up of musicians. Her personal top 10 included The Beach Boys and The Rolling Stones with two songs each and u. a. Bob Dylan , Tom Waits and David Bowie .

Career

She had to bear the costs of producing her debut album Wishbone herself, as she did not come across a record company willing to get funding at the beginning of her career . The magazine The New Yorker described it (even as "perhaps the best artist of the music industry unsigned" English perhaps the best unsigned artist in the business ). In fact, it wasn't until 2012 that I Can See the Future via Yep Roc Records - where u. a. also the alternative country band The Sadies , The Minus 5 by Peter Buck and the Psychobilly / Rockabilly band The Reverend Horton Heat had released - for the first time an album appeared on a regular record format. Before that, she had already won awards for “Best Local Singer / Songwriter” from the major local daily drawings in her hometown of Los Angeles.

Despite their status as independent singer was in 2005 one of their songs, more precisely, the rehearsed by it cover "I Love Paris" by Cole Porter , from the mainly on the West Coast of the United States settled fast food chain Carl's Jr. used for a commercial. The advertising campaign received special attention because Paris Hilton was staged in a very revealing way.

Her 2007 album Miracle of Five presented her a. a. Toured the west coast of the United States and Europe . In 2007 the live album Voxhall And Wuk , limited to 1,000 hand-numbered copies, was released , which contains six recordings from a concert at the WUK in Vienna ( Austria ) and nine recordings from Voxhall in Aarhus ( Denmark ). Due to the financial crisis from 2007 they also felt an impact on their music and their live performances: touring with her band could no longer be borne by the budget and it was "somewhat shocking" ( english It's kind of shocking in a way ) as the share of CD buyers at concerts has fallen sharply within three years or between two albums.

The album I Can See the Future , which came out in July 2012, was produced by Joe Chiccarelli (The Shins, The Strokes, White Stripes). Greg Leisz's pedal steel guitar created the sound of Desert Song , saxophonist Steve Berlin ( Los Lobos ) is on Who You Gonna Dance With , Benji Hughes turns Lee Hazlewood into Elenis Nancy Sinatra on Never Have To Fall In Love Again . Nathaniel Walcott (Bright Eyes) brings the flugelhorn to Magic Summertime and I'm Lucky . On a European tour in January 2013, Mandell gave concerts in Hamburg, Munich and Frankfurt am Main. In the introduction of a pre-registration with the tour dates, the dpa described her as “still an insider tip, this critically acclaimed Eleni Mandell from Los Angeles”.

Two weeks before the release of their tenth studio album, Dark Lights Up, on July 24th, 2015, Rolling Stone magazine exclusively released the video for the song "Someone To Love Like You".

reception

For her debut album PJ Harvey was used as a reference for the lyrical approach , for the second work Thrill her voice was described as a cross between Fiona Apple and Gwen Stefani .

In a review as part of the daily series " Song of the Day " for NPR , the choice fell on "It Wasn't the Time (It Was the Color)" from the 2009 album Artificial Fire , the reviewer Marc Hirsh found it difficult to identify to decide specifically for one of Eleni Mandell's strengths. Perhaps it is their broad musical palette, which revolves around a fixed point, but opens up a different perspective with each new album. But it could also be her voice, which is both cool and warm at the same time. But it could also be her texts, which at the same time benefit from the poet's eye for details, without falling into the trap of over-detailed description. Whatever it is, “It Wasn't the Time (It Was the Color)” applies. Two years earlier, Hirsh made a similar statement in the same column.

In the pre-registration for the 2013 tour in Germany, the dpa summarized that Mandell sang “sensitive, warm-hearted, romantic and elegant songs full of beguiling melancholy”.

For the tenth studio album Dark Lights Up (2015) the music magazine Rolling Stone noted compactly:

“The Californian singer-songwriter dedicates herself once more to the shimmering mixture of folk, jazz and standards, without it sounding strained for even a second. The often intimate song sketches are sometimes accompanied by an almost infectious humor. "

- Rolling Stone

Private life

Eleni Mandell is the mother of twins.

Discography

Albums

  • 1998: Wishbone (Mr. Charles Records)
  • 2000: Thrill (Zedtone Records)
  • 2002: Snakebite (Space Baby Records)
  • 2003: Country for True Lovers (Zedtone Records)
  • 2004: Afternoon (Zedtone Records)
  • 2007: Miracle of Five (Zedtone Records)
  • 2009: Artificial Fire (Zedtone Records)
  • 2012: I Can See the Future (Yep Roc Records)
  • 2014: Let's Fly a Kite (Make my Day)
  • 2015: Dark Lights Up (Yep Roc Records)

Singles and EPs

  • 2001: Turn on the Lights (7 "single, Heart of a Champion Records)
  • 2003: Eleni Mandell / Mike Gunther ( split with Mike Gunther, 7 " EP , Heart of a Champion Records)
  • 2004: Maybe, Yes (EP, Heart of a Champion Records)
  • 2007: Dis-Moi Au Revoir Encore (7 "single, Bonsound Records)
  • 2007: Girls (Single, V2)

Others

  • 2007: Voxhall And Wuk (Live album, Mr. Charles Records)
  • 2015: Sawyer Sessions ( compilation with the track Maybe Yes , Yep Roc Records)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b H. P. Daniels: Concert review: Eleni Mandell: Red shoes, red lips. In: tagesspiegel.de . May 8, 2009. Retrieved November 26, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Ullrich Maurer-: Interview: Eleni Mandell. In: gaesteliste.de. Retrieved November 26, 2017 .
  3. ↑ a b Kim Ruehl: Bumbershoot preview: Interview with Eleni Mandell. In: nodepression.com. August 19, 2009. Retrieved November 26, 2017 .
  4. ^ Dpa : Music: Eleni Mandell: Relaxed and soulful. In: Focus Online . August 9, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Top Ten: The 10 Favorite Songs of All Time by Eleni Mandell. In: musikexpress.de. July 4, 2015, accessed November 26, 2017 .
  6. ↑ cit. based on: Rob Walker: A great singer-songwriter who can't get a record deal. In: slate.com. February 19, 2003. Retrieved November 26, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Eleni Mandell signs to Yep Roc - New album I CAN SEE THE FUTURE out 7/10. - Yep Roc Records. In: yeproc.com. April 19, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Kerry Doole: Eleni Mandell Miracle Of Five. In: exclaim.ca. February 13, 2007, accessed November 26, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Melinda Newman: Burger Ad Reveals Tasty Treat . In: Billboard . June 18, 2005, pp. 64 ( full text / preview in Google Book Search).
  10. ↑ Caleb Silver: Carl's Jr. not sorry for sexy Paris Hilton ad. In: money.cnn.com. May 24, 2005. Retrieved November 26, 2017 .
  11. ^ "Make-out Music: An Interview With Eleni Mandell. In: artistdirect.com. February 7, 2007, accessed November 26, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Eleni Mandell - Voxhall And Wuk. In: discogs.com. Retrieved November 26, 2017 .
  13. ↑ Californian art of unleashing the American guitarist Greg Leisz , Deutschlandfunk September 5, 2011, accessed January 21, 2013
  14. ↑ LA songstress Eleni Mandell on tour , Yep Roc Records January 2013
  15. ↑ a b dpa: Music: Eleni Mandell comes to Germany. In: Focus Online . December 13, 2012, accessed November 26, 2017 .
  16. ↑ a b Video premiere: Eleni Mandell - "Someone To Love Like You". In: rollingstone.de. July 9, 2015, accessed November 26, 2017 .
  17. ↑ Jolyon Heltermann: Reviews: Eleni Mandell - Thrill . In: Out . No. December 12 , 2000, pp. 32 ( full text / preview in Google book search).
  18. ↑ Marc Hirsh: Eleni Mandell: A Poet's Eye For Detail. In: npr.org . February 26, 2009, accessed November 26, 2017 .
  19. ↑ Marc Hirsh: A Lullaby for Grownups in Love. In: npr.org. July 6, 2007, accessed November 26, 2017 .
  20. ↑ Ulrich Maurer: Eleni Mandell - Disgusting happiness. In: westzeit.de. March 1, 2014, accessed November 26, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Almond, Eleni
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer-songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH October 1969
PLACE OF BIRTH los Angeles