NOISE
BY AMY ATKINS
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CLASSIC CONNOLLY Local musician serious about debut CD
have more of a backlog so I would have songs to choose from,â€? Connolly said. “And during the process, it took so long ... Now that I look back on it, it was really good.â€? She actually had the album done at the end of ’08 but couldn’t get permission to put three Robert Frost poems that she’d set s one of the worst storms in recent history began moving to music on the record. Unfazed, she pulled from her extensive into the Treasure Valley, local musician Audra Connolly library and recorded three new songs, understanding that there is and her brother Aaron serenaded a crowd of seven or eight more to music than just performing. It’s something that may serve on the patio of Smoky Mountain Pizza on State Street. Hidden her well in the music business. from the road by huge trees and a high fence, the air resonated It’s with that acumen that she asked Rebecca Scott and Marcus with Connolly’s sweet voice and the entrancing combination of her acoustic guitar and her brother’s electric. The slight but growing breeze carried the sound, causing more than one passerby to peer through the slats in the gate. They didn’t seem to know who Connolly was. But with an exhaustive show schedule and a new debut CD titled Dear Friend on her own label Hole Heart Records out soon, she hopes to change that. Connolly, 29, started plinking keys before her little ďŹ ngers could hold a No. 2 pencil. She followed her musical ear through college, receiving a degree in piano performance from Boise State. Growing up, she’d always had guitars around as well and taught herself to play during high school. She still tickles the ivories—she teaches music at Hillside Academy—but writing music and playing the guitar allowed the studious woman a freedom the piano didn’t offer. “This is a funny explanation, but I grew up with people putting music in front of me on the piano, saying, ‘Play this. Learn this.’ I’m classically trained, and I’m glad for that ‌ [But] with the guitar, the Audra Connolly contemplates the six years it took to create Dear Friend. writing comes a lot easier. I can break off from all the theory and the knowledge I have and just use my ears.â€? Eaton to join her for her CD release party. Asking Eaton—who With the guitar, she could explore new sounds and new ways of opened for Dave Matthews Band at the Gorge Amphitheatre not playing and discovered that she preferred writing her own tunings so long ago—to open for her took some courage. as well. Instead of tuning her guitar in standard E-A-D-G-B-E, “I met Marcus before I even started writing music ... we beshe tunes the strings in a way that allows her to delve into dark came friends and stayed in touch. When I called him, I said, ‘I feel harmonies and dissonant chords. The inuence of alternate tuners funny asking you this, but will you open for my CD release?’ she Joni Mitchell and Ani DiFranco rings clear in Connolly’s songs. said, laughing. “He said, ‘Oh, yeah!’â€? It’s a technique that gives her pop, singer-songwritery tunes a softEaton said he gets requests like Connolly’s from time to time ened folk edge, and with the 16 or 17 different tunings she likes and always considers them. He feels a responsibility to help young to use, the songs are stacked like a fancy wedding cake, layers of and upcoming musicians if he can. But only if the music is any chords and harmonies building to beautiful moments. And like good. And he thinks Connolly deďŹ nitely has something there. DiFranco, Connolly pushes phrasing in surprising directions and “When I think it’s good, hell yes, I’ll help out,â€? Eaton said. “I’ve pens lyrics that are at once metaphorical and autobiographical, as had some really cool people help me out and continue to help me in the opening track of Dear Friend: “I was taught to love / and out. That seems like it happened more in the past, though. In the try to rise above / all the stuff out there / that just ain’t fair. / Well past, if a band saw another band and thought they could help them this thing called life / is so full of strife. / So why can’t you let me by taking them out on the road, they would do it. In my experience, be ... exactly who I want to be.â€? it’s been really difďŹ cult to have that happen now ... Bands that are Though Connolly started playing in front of audiences in 2003, huge, they get to that level and they don’t care anymore.â€? she’s only now releasing her debut CD. Six years is a long time With four acts on the bill that night, Connolly may not get to between playing for audiences and ďŹ nally giving them something the stage to strum her stuff until late. But after six years of waitto take home with them, but Connolly wasn’t willing to set up a ing, this classically trained folk musician can afford to wait a few microphone and Pro Tools in her basement. She gathered some more hours. ďŹ ne local musicians, including Rob Hill on bass and Laura Davis Wednesday, Aug. 19, 7:30 p.m. with Polyphonic Pomegranate, on bassoon, and went into a local studio to record. She doesn’t Rebecca Scott and Marcus Eaton, $6. Knitting Factory, 416 S. Ninth seem the sort to take anything—especially her songs—lightly. St., bo.knittingfactory.com. “I didn’t feel like I was ready for a long time, and I wanted to LAURIE PEARMAN
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NOISENEWS BUILT TO TOUR
There Is No Enemy is the band’s ďŹ rst release since 2006’s You In Reverse and hopefully they’ll play a few songs from There Is No Enemy during their stop in Boise at the Hyde Park Street Fair on Friday, Sept. 18.
With a new album, There Is No Enemy, scheduled to hit the streets Tuesday, Oct. 6, Built to Spill hits the road on a months-long headlining tour around the album’s release. On Thursday, Aug. 20, they’ll join label mates The Flaming Lips for a show in Oregon before SPEAKING OF LIPS The Flaming Lips (who also have a new heading to points east and then swinging album coming out) and All Tomorrow’s Parties back around to the West Coast in late November. They’ll preview tracks from the album are co-curating this year’s All Tomorrow’s Parties festival on Sept. 11-13 in Monticello, NY. along the way.
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Scheduled acts include The Jesus Lizard, Iron and Wine, Animal Collective, Sufjan Stevens, Melvins, Menomena and more. Word is that Stevens is also releasing a new album titled Run Rabbit Run, a rearrangement of 2001’s Enjoy Your Rabbit. Other highlights include comedy from David Cross and Sunday’s performances are exclusive to the ATP event. For more information, visit atpfestival.com.
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