Artist
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Robin Bacior
Good Mountain Records
WATER DREAMS LP
OUT JANUARY 13, 2015 // Good Mountain Records
Robin Bacior’s voice speaks of a much older soul. Her songs reveal honest pictures with instrumentation as a medium to illuminate her lyrics. Born and raised in California, Bacior took great influence from California folk traditions and brought them with her to New York. She began collaborating with cellist Dan Bindschedler and the two began to mend in more textured instrumentation, combining more classical arrangements with simple folk structures.
In 2012, Bacior relocated to Portland. In the following year she and Bindschedler collaborated crosscountry, sending each other current influences and traveling to play music on both coasts. During this time, Bacior had been having frequent dreams about various bodies of water, and felt it was signifying her grappling with an overwhelming amount of transition. As a result, Bacior wrote a new collection of songs, later named Water Dreams. The songs center around Bacior’s departure from New York, examining the collapse of paths that felt certain, and finding a way to humbly move forward. Essentially, how it feels when it doesn’t work out. Bacior brought the songs to Bindschedler (who has since moved to Portland as well), and the two sat down and arranged more fleshed-out pieces. The music was then presented to recording engineer/producer Rian Lewis. With his technical guidance and the addition of Ji Tanzer on percussion, the songs were recorded at The Secret Society Recording Studio and finished at Lewis’ own studio.
The result is something within the realm of New Music; a classical duet playing composed pieces fused with experimentation. Bacior uses the piano as a rhythmic base while Bindschedler laces his cello’s sound through various pedals, creating a more atmospheric, sonically-wide space. Throughout the cello/piano movement, Bacior’s alto vocals carry their own strong melodies, and provide the lyrical foundation the instrumental motion is built upon. The sound is large and vibrant, but remains intimate and close, and above all is meant to be an honest offering for a listener to find their own mood and meaning within.Bacior’s releases have included her debut EP, Aimed For Night (2010), a 7” for Man Before Me on her own label, Consonants & Vowels Recordings (2011), along with her debut LP, Rest Our Wings (2011), the EP I Left You, Still In Love (2012), and a 7′′ for Shapes and Seasons (2012).
Her songs have received praise from press from outlets like Vh1, MTV, NYLON, L Magazine, CBS and Stereomood.