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“A songsmith whose music simply aches beauty”
Time Out
"A major talent in the offing...sublime"
Music Week
"A magical voice...here's a brand new hope for spring"
Muso's Guide
2009 is proving to be a seminal year for this highly original singer, songwriter and musician. Currently recording her first studio album, Ana’s ability to weave intense, poetical story-telling into hauntingly tender melodies creates a musical journey that is widely tipped to go mainstream this year.
“What interests me is telling archetypal stories in a new way, unfolding things from unexpected perspectives” says Ana, who has been inspired by everything from her own life experiences to those of a starlet in war-torn Paris, a biblical and murderous Salome, an Irish choirboy and a dead poet’s wife.
Ana’s musical education began at a very young age with classical training and solo performances for the English National Opera. She learned both piano and guitar as a child and added jazz to her repertoire during the “throes of an adolescent semi-rebellion”. An English Literature degree followed, providing a wealth of inspiration and ideas for her song writing. Ana then gave into wanderlust for a while. She spent four months sleeping under a fig tree in Ibiza, soaked up the romance of Paris and moved to Berlin to hone her craft in hideouts like Café Harlem and In Eimer, as well as the renowned jazz den, A-Trane.
Now relocated to Brooklyn, Ana’s eventful life has shaped her song-writing style. “Events that we experience affect each of us and our lives in very different ways. In the words of Anais Nin, ‘We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are’.” She describes her songs as of “the lush, tender, waltzy order." Think Jacques Brel in English, with fewer Gauloises, plus a pinch of Camille and Leonard Cohen thrown in for good measure.
Ana’s influences range from Tom Waits, Nina Simone, Joni Mitchell and French icons Barbara and Charles Aznavour to J.S. Bach, Schumann and Debussy, while her style has earned her the deserved title of an English 'Nouvelle Chanteuse'.
Recent performance highlights have included introductory gigs in New York where she was accompanied by Antony and the Johnsons’ bassist, Jeff Langston, along with regular stints at the Soho Revue Bar, Union Chapel and the West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge. Reviewers certainly rave about her ‘gloriously supple voice’ (Wears the Trousers Magazine), the ‘pure poetry’ (Time Out) of her songs and the ‘epic and intimate’ (The Liberal Magazine) performances she delivers time and again.
Working with NYC-based musical director / arranger Maxim Moston (Rufus Wainwright, Lou Reed, Linda Thompson) and producer Brad Albetta (Martha Wainwright, Teddy Thompson), Ana is currently recording her first studio album. An intimate account of her own and many other vivid character's life and loves, the eagerly awaited collection will be released this year. Before then, she can be caught at select venues in the UK, US and Europe.
Bookings
To book, please contact Allison McCafferty via allisonmccaffertypa@googlemail.com
or contact Ana direct via myspace.
Wears the Trousers Interview September 2008
Wears The Trousers first became aware of Ana Silvera last year when our resident writing accordionist Anja McCloskey started playing gigs with her. First impressions of Ana as just another Regina Spektor wannabe swiftly evaporated as further investigation revealed her to be a sophisticated, hyperliterate storyteller in her own right
(Read more...)
Angel Magazine Interview - April 2008
Ana Silvera: Small delights
Exclusive for this website, Emily Paine gets up close and personal with the Stoke Newington singer who is impressing many.
Everyone should go out and buy Ana Silvera’s new CD. Right away. And I’m saying this from the point of view of a not particularly music-literate person, who only the day before meeting the singer heard some of her songs. (Read more...)
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