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A wee bit of footage from last 'Shadows and Light' rehearsal!

Cindy’s newsletter: Spring 2012

Hello all, Wow, the weather has been and still is amazing…making me think of long, hot days and warm evenings to come. However, this is England and it doesn’t do to get your hopes up, but hey, maybe we’re going to have a great summer…
Let me tell you about some of my forthcoming gigs in May and June.
There will be a couple of outings for ZBella our fab four piece singing ensemble, and a special gig in my hometown for Cindy Stratton and Marius Frank! Can’t actually believe this will be the first time I have ever performed in St.Albans, but there we are! I remember as a teenager being very inspired by all the bands I used to see in pubs and going regularly to the civic hall to hear whoever was on that week. It was quite an education! I saw amongst others, Budgie ( VERY loud), ACDC, Split Enz ( who went on to become Crowded House) Dire Straits, the Kinks, and my favourite band ever Talking Heads……halcyon days really…..!
I know the live music scene is thriving in St.Albans and I feel quite honoured to be a part of it for one evening. Marius and I will be performing a lot of my original music and some very choice covers including songs from our recent Joni Mitchell review.
So, if any of you are around and about the area on Tues May 22nd come and support us on Ruby Tuesday at The White Lion in St. Albans. The address is 91Sopwell Lane, St.Albans, Herts AL11RN.
On May 17th, Marius and I plus ZBella will be performing at Widcombe Social Club, Widcome Parade Bath, along with some other fine bands and we are hoping to raise funds to help towards the new exciting venue to be built soon. Come and support what will be a great evening of diverse and wonderful music.
Then on Friday June 1st ZBella will be singing in the United Reform Church in Bath at approx 9 pm as part of the fabulous party in the city to open the prestigious Bath music Festival. Details will be in the programme.
So there is a lot to look forward, not least seeing some of you lovely people along the way!
Big Love, Cindy

Venue Magazine Review of new album 'Portraits of Life and Love'

For this album, singer and songwriter Cindy has gathered together an impressive bunch of local musicians and written some of the most powerful songs of her career.All but one of the 11 tracks were written by Cindy; the exception being a lovely version of the 17th century song 'N'esperez Plus Mes Yeux", featuring just her gorgeous voice and acoustic guitar. Song content and musical style vary widely, with 'Warrior' verging on prog-rock whilst opener 'All Fall Apart' is a real tear jerker. Great credit must also be given to co-producer and musician Marius Frank. Also worthy of mention are the awesome violin playing of Ali Norse and piano work of Stephen Marquiss.
If anything, this album proves that a good songwriter only gets better with age, and Cindy has matured into a brilliant one, this album being far stronger than her early work which almost saw her signed to a major label.
Come back and have another listen, chaps. (Tony Slinger) ****

New Album
Portraits of Life and Love

This new album of music reflects Cindy’s acoustic roots and love of harmony. With melody firmly at the heart of each well-crafted song, Cindy’s voice engages and moves the listener. Each track benefits from a different arrangement, ranging from the simplicity of ‘Autumn Morning’, just voice and piano, or ‘All Fall Apart’, voice and guitar, to tracks like ‘Falling Snow’ featuring bass, percussion, guitar, piano, cello and violin.‘Beyond Black’, the story of a medium and inspired by Hilary Mantel’s wonderful book of the same title, has a dramatic feel, and the beautiful ‘Wild One’ reflects the albums title by telling a story, a portrait of a man, a woman, and a baby. ‘Warrior’ is about a boy going to war told from a mother’s perspective, and ‘Bats in the Belfry’ reflects the desire to escape and leave it all behind, ‘Put her in an aeroplane, send her up to the sky’ ...‘Ne’s Perez Plus Mes Yeaux’, the only cover on the album, is a beautiful 15th century love song by Antoine Boesset: ‘I decided to put this one on because it always goes down so well whenever I include it in a live performance. It’s just such a beautiful melody’, says Cindy
With this recording, Cindy was keen to keep a live feel and mostly recorded each vocal track in one take, quite a brave move considering how difficult it can be to leave things as they are instead of ‘perfecting’ each little nuance. ‘I was really keen not to overproduce and flatten out the sound of this album. It’s often so difficult to capture the energy of a live performance when in the studio, and there is a huge temptation to do it again in case next time it’s even better. Where do you stop? You can’t go back and do it again when performing live, so I really tried to stick that principle in the studio. It’s all about feel and energy’
It’s Cindy’s intention, with this collection of songs, to present the listener with a refreshing change from more commercially oriented music, and to take them on a quiet little journey, with unexpected beautiful views, and the occasional twist in the road.