Released Australia & New Zealand February 19, everywhere else (except US and Japan) March 11. Features album version and remixes by Grafton Primary and J Nitti.
Tania Bowers' life as a musical gypsy has lead to her on a path full of happenstance and wonder.
Born in Australia to South African parents, she began playing with her sister Kim in vowel-free, noise-pop outfit SPDFGH around Sydney in the early Nineties, opening for the likes of The Breeders and Bikini Kill even before she was legally allowed to drink.
Post SPDFGH she worked on a spare, thoughtful self–released EP under the name Sunday. Relocating to Chicago at the end of the Nineties she set about piecing together an album as Via Tania, with producer Casey Rice and various Chicago musical luminaries, with a focus on production, electronics and sound, and the songs acting as vessel for said sounds. The album Under A Different Sky was released in 2004 to acclaim, on the underground hip hop label, Chocolate Industries.
Her sophomore release, Moon Sweet Moon sees a change in direction for Via Tania, dictated from the very seeds of the songs upwards.
"I was remembering my first ideas, and ideals, of songwriting from my teens," explains Tania. "I wasn't thinking about production or any aesthetic for the recordings, I was writing more like I used to when I was a kid, listening to Suzanne Vega."
The recording of the album began in earnest in Australia but took many surprising turns with musicians and sessions in the US, Europe and Australia.
"I had a lot of moving around and trying to find out a place where I really want to be. When you write songs it becomes really apparent that whether they are fiction, non-fiction or somewhere in-between, these songs represent your years. This record went through so many changes, stages, and re-inventions because the last five or so years I moved countries twice, and worked with different people."
Ironically it was back in Australia at a chance meeting at a show that Tania met Texan producer Craig Ross, a key figure in the thriving Austin music scene who has worked with many artists including Emmylou Harris, Daniel Johnston, Patty Griffin and Spoon.
Hitting it off Tania assembled the various sessions and went to Austin to work with Craig.
"I had no idea how much more we were going to re-record. He is different in that, he brought out the songs in a new way for me. We got really into harmonies and vocal tracks. He would say that the whole point is to make the music as 'Tania' as possible. At first I didn't really get it, I thought it was Tania because I wrote it. He really wanted to shift the focus and didn't want me to hide behind anything particularly stylistic."
And so we have Moon Sweet Moon, a musical statement of intent, an album filled with, as Tania describes it, 'moon pop'.
From the into of ‘The Beginning' to the last lines of 'Songs of Love', Tania's hushed vocals and distinctive songwriting are the centrepiece of the album, with Craig and Tania painting musical palettes around them. With the Tim Burton-esque creaks and moans of 'In Light Years', the campfire balladry of 'How Come' and 'Everyworld' to the 70s Scando-disco of 'Our Wild Flight', the album ebbs and flows in beguiling harmony.
Moon Sweet Moon features contributions from an array of skilled players including members of Tortoise, Lara May (Ben Lee’s band), Shearwater and Melbourne’s Ground Components, to name but a few.
Praise for the forthcoming album 'Moon Sweet Moon'
"Be bewitched" US Vogue
"Bowers is one of those rare artists that could give the hemorrhaging music industry a glimmer of hope." 4 STARS, US DAILY
"Let your freak-baroque folk flag fly with some exhilarating and strange harmonies and French chanteuse-like grand moments." Album of the Week, MX Magazine
"Bass-heavy guitar and skittish drums and vocals that move from folk to soul to jazz, Moon Sweet Moon is a stunning second album." 4 stars, Sydney Morning Herald
"Moon Sweet Moon is a fascinating and rewarding invocation." Mess and Noise
"The self-described 'moon music' is indeed a guiding light in the emotional darkness" MCV
"A lilting, otherworldly collection of folk-pop songs that shows off her sparkling voice"Vogue Australia
Album of the week FBI FM (Sydney), 4ZZZ FM (Brisbane), 2SER FM (Sydney)
Perhaps my memory is going, but I don't remember Via Tania being this cut-up-electronic before - Our Wild Flight sounds like Goldfrapp reimagined by the Notwist - but the fragile synths and twitchy rhythms suit the huskily seductive voice of Tania Bowers perfectly. Part of me wants to continue making wanky music journalist comparisons ("hey, it's like a female Postal Service!") but in all honesty, this is just too good to sully with endless references.
Andrew P Street (Drum Media)
Offering dreamy, ethereal pop somewhere between Bjork and Feist, Via Tania has a lovely breathy and at times tremulous voice that sounds destined to soundtrack tasteful commercials (this is not a put-down - there's a universal appeal here which some canny advertiser will recognise, as has already happened with Feist multiple times).
Tim Finney (Inpress)
PRAISE FOR VIA TANIA and UNDER A DIFFERENT SKY
"The best of the lot might be Via Tania (aka Tania Bowers), who comes from Melbourne via Chicago and has the same effortless charm as Norah Jones. She's Beth Gibbons without the haunt and Macy Gray without the nasal problems." Austin Chronicle, Feb 23, 2007.
"Via Tania is a motherfucking revelation." Junkmedia Magazine (US)
"Under a Different Sky is such a good album that you wish someone would adopt it. Jennifer Kelly, www.splendidezine.com
"It's rare to find progressive music this engaging." Lucky Magazine (AUS)
"A striking accomplishment" Resonance Magazine (US)
Alternately layered and stark, with Tania sounding like a sweeter, tech-savvy Chan Marshall. Richard M. Juzwiak, CMJ New Music Monthly (US)
Imagine Martina Topley-Bird (back-up vocalist for Tricky) and Macy Gray singing you sophisticated lullabies about love and loss. Amneziac, www.tinymixtapes.com
Sings with an extraordinarily breezy, half-lidded and dreamy timbre Via Tania will be a major contender. Julianne Shepherd www.pitchforkmedia.com (US)
Bowers voice and adventurous songwriting are the clear stars on Under a Different Sky. Its a remarkably pliable instrument that navigates proto-cabaret croon, Bjorks wide-eye wonder and Nicos dispassionate transport with an unassuming grace and welcoming conviction. Ben Sterling, www.junkmedia.org (US)
The electro-Country highway is still a less travelled road, so Bowers can happily write her own bible. Martin Longely, The Wire (UK)
A beautiful disturbing record, like a mirage seen through the heat rising off hot tarmac on an empty highway her range is extraordinary. Tim Haslett, Anthem Magazine (US)
Absorbing and slightly foreign, Richard Alvarez, Time Off (AUS)
Soft pop blessed with the spirit of love and adventure. Anthony Carew, Zebra (AUS)
Lush melodies and a beautiful enigmatic voice. www.usounds.com (US)
Subtle and distinctive. Vaughan Healy, www.cyclicdefrost.com (AUS)
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