The Velveteen Age
Sometimes talent is overlooked as in the case of Diane Birch, and her 2009 debut, “Bible Belt”. Now, paired with her Brooklynites, and New York’s The Phenomenal Handclap Band, she releases The Velveteen Age, a seven-song EP collection of cover tunes.
Hitting the shelves on December 7. The Velveteen Age features Birch’s beautiful voice with British Goth Songs from The Cure, Joy Division, Sisters of Mercy and The Mortal Coil. While Diane Birch may be a Soul newcomer she did hint previously that her next album would be “funky and dark” to Pop and Hiss.
Making this album her own, Birch arranged the songs, picked material from her formative teen years. “Sitting in my bedroom with my headphones pressed into my ears till they hurt, each song gave me a weird kind of hope for my future. I would have never imagined I would get a chance to record them one day, let alone with some of my closest friends.”
To carry out the theme of the album, the cover art displays Birch in a Victorian wedding dress. Perhaps it indicates a new beginning for the 16-year old artist as S-Curve Records plans to follow The Velveteen Age with a new album of self-penned songs by Birch.
“THE VELVETEEN AGE” TRACKLIST:
This Corrosion (Sisters of Mercy)
Kiss Them For Me (Siouxsie & The Banshees)
Bring On The Dancing Horses (Echo & The Bunnymen)
Atmosphere (Joy Division)
Primary (The Cure)
Tarantula (This Mortal Coil)
A Strange Kind of Love (Peter Murphy)
Bringing her upbringing in a conservative family with a father whose profession was a traveling preacher and finding her own music far darker gives this album a unique sound. Birch sings these songs in the genre she knows best, Gospel. It works creating a spin on some old-school favorites and giving them new life. Just listen to Birch’s version of “This Corrosion” and hear for yourself!
Join the listening party on aol.com and hear ‘The Velveteen Age’ in its entirety. AOL will continue streaming the album through 12.13.10 and in just a few more hours the EP becomes available exclusively on iTunes.
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