Saturday, May 3, 2014

Albums : Ray Lamontagne : Supernova

Albums : Ray Lamontagne : Supernova

Listen To Ray Lamontagne : Supernova


Who Is Ray Lamontagne?
Raymond "Ray" Charles Jack LaMontagne (/lɑːmɒnˈteɪn/; born June 18, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter. LaMontagne has released five studio albums, Trouble, Till the Sun Turns Black, Gossip in the Grain, God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise and Supernova. He was born in New Hampshire and was inspired to create music after hearing an album by Stephen Stills. Critics have compared LaMontagne's music to that of Otis Redding, The Band, Van Morrison, Nick Drake and Tim Buckley.

LaMontagne was born in Nashua, New Hampshire in 1973, one of six children raised by his mother. In his early teens he lived in Morgan, Utah and was more interested in drawing images of Dungeons & Dragons than in his school work. After graduating from high school, LaMontagne moved to Lewiston, Maine and found work in a shoe factory.

LaMontagne was inspired to quit his job and begin a career as a singer-songwriter after listening to Stephen Stills' album Manassas. LaMontagne began performing in 1999, while maintaining a part time job as a tutor. In the summer of 1999, he recorded 10 songs for a demo album that was sent to various local music venues including Maine's Oddfellow Theater, where he was hired as an opening act for John Gorka and Jonathan Edwards.

A business executive introduced LaMontagne to Chrysalis Music Publishing and in 2004 LaMontagne recorded the album Trouble with producer Ethan Johns and sold it to RCA Records in the USA and Echo Records in the UK. The album featured performances by Sara Watkins and Jennifer Stills, daughter of musician Stephen Stills. The album sold over 250,000 copies in the USA and 500,000 worldwide. During a 2005 tour, LaMontagne performed at the music festival, Austin City Limits.

An EP of LaMontagne's performance at the Bonnaroo Music Festival was released in 2005 and his song "All the Wild Horses" was part of the soundtrack for the TV series Rescue Me and the 2009 film The Boys Are Back. His song "Trouble" appeared in the TV series Alias and his song "Jolene" was heard in the credits of the 2010 film The Town. His song "Hold You in My Arms" was featured in the 2006 movie, She's The Man.

In 2005, he performed at two charity events, a New York City fundraiser for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and at the "Warren Haynes Christmas Jam".

LaMontagne's second album, Till the Sun Turns Black, was released in August 2006 and featured horn and string sections on several of the songs with Rachael Yamagata providing additional vocals on the song "Barfly". The album peaked at #28 on the Billboard 200 album chart, selling 28,000 copies in its first week of release. The album spawned the single "Three More Days". In 2006 LaMontagne performed on The Tonight Show.

The song "Till the Sun Turns Black" was featured on the television show ER, and the songs "Lesson Learned" and "Within You" appeared on the CW drama One Tree Hill. His song "Be Here Now" was heard on the trailer for the movie Away From Her, in the film 27 Dresses, on the TV shows Bones, Covert Affairs and Brothers & Sisters. LaMontagne performed at KYSR's Lounge for Life charity concert on 5 October 2006 at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, California. He also auctioned off one of his guitars on eBay for its charity auction. Funds raised from the concert and auction went to breast cancer research.

LaMontagne released his third studio album, Gossip in the Grain, on RCA Records in 2008; it debuted at #3 on the Billboard charts with 60,000 units sold. Working again with producer Ethan Johns, the album featured LaMontagne's touring band of Jennifer Condos on bass, Eric Heywood on guitar, and Ethan Johns on drums and guest vocals from singer/songwriter Leona Naess.

The song "You Are the Best Thing" was featured in the movie I Love You, Man and in the television series One Tree Hill. LaMontagne performed on Saturday Night Live in March 2009. The songs "Sarah" and "I Still Care For You" appeared on the television series House. His song "Let it be Me" was featured on the television series Parenthood and was included on the Parenthood soundtrack in 2010. It was also used in an episode entitled "JJ" from the sixth season of Criminal Minds.

LaMontagne's self-produced studio album, God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise (Ray Lamontagne and the Pariah Dogs), was released in August 2010. In December 2010, LaMontagne received Grammy nominations and won the award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

In August 2010, he performed at a Nashville, Tennessee charity event to raise money for victims of a local flood. The song, "Empty", appeared on an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent in 2010 and was heard during the film credits for the movie The Conspirator. It also appeared in Tony Kaye's film Detachment in 2011, released in the US in 2012. LaMontagne performed on the program Live from Abbey Road in October 2006. The New England native was featured on VH1 Storytellers in 2011.

In 2011 LaMontagne sang a duet with Irish singer Lisa Hannigan, "O Sleep", which was featured on her Choice Music Award-nominated album Passenger.

LaMontagne will release his fifth studio album, Supernova, on 6 May 2014 via RCA Records. The album was produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys and recorded at Auerbach's Nashville studio. The title track was made available for download on ITunes and Google Play Music on 25 February 2014.

LaMontagne has a unique vocal style, which he says is created by singing through his gut instead of through his nose. He cites Stephen Stills, Richard Manuel, and Rick Danko as strong musical influences while critics have compared LaMontagne's music to that of The Band, Van Morrison, Nick Drake, and Tim Buckley.

For his debut album, LaMontagne won four awards, including three Boston Music Awards (Best Male Singer/Songwriter, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year) and an XM Nation Music Award for Acoustic Rock Artist of the Year. LaMontagne has received a nomination from the Pollstar Concert Industry Awards for Best New Touring Artist, the BRIT Awards for International Breakthrough Act, the MOJO Awards for Best New Act, and was given the title of Best Voice in 2006 by Esquire.

In December 2010, LaMontagne received two Grammy nominations and won the award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

LaMontagne lives in a farmhouse in western Massachusetts with his wife and two children. Sarah Sousa is a published poet via red mountain press and his sons are budding artists. He refers to himself as a "very private person" and rarely gives interviews.

Supernova Review
Ray LaMontagne spends most of his latest album California dreamin’.

One song finds him driving aimlessly down the Pacific Coast Highway in search of a respite. Another sees him rolling past Beverly Hills with a rough gang from East Los Angeles. A third has him staring at a drive-in movie screen in the Midwest, pining for the coolest rebels of Hollywood.

The music, too, moons over the West Coast. It’s a nonstop acid flashback to two summery sounds of the ’60s — either the riot of the Sunset Strip when the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield ruled, or the haze of Haight-Ashbury when the Airplane and Quicksilver fuzzed through a stoked amalgam of psychedelic folk.

Oddly, LaMontagne nailed those sounds in Nashville, at a studio owned by someone well known for restoring rock ’n’ roll antiques: the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. Lately, that Grammy-winning producer has helped artists from Dr. John to Bombino recreate the quirks and fuzz tones of vintage rock.

Auerbach doesn’t have an automatic connection to LaMontagne’s style. True, the previous five albums by this highly internalized singer-songwriter drew on a classic rocker’s notion of folk and country. And he has an old soul star’s rasp. But never before has LaMontagne so willingly risked the dreaded term “retro.”

On “Supernova,” he risks it big time — with some problematic results. LaMontagne let Auerbach blur and overlay his vocals until many of them lose the immediacy and depth of his timbre. The singer owns one of the most richly textured growls in modern music. It’s the central part of what has made his previous albums gripping. Here, its often lost in a wash of backup “ahs” or a blur of fuzzed-up guitars. It sounds like everyone took a deep toke before they tuned up.

The approach does have a few advantages. The music rocks harder than LaMontagne’s usual fare, which normally draws you in through its slow burn. Even his previous album — the first he cut with a full band — rarely picked up the pace or found the singer raising his voice.

The new style also lets LaMontagne drape the melodies with richer ornamentation. That lends them multiple ways to catch the ear. Unfortunately, they’re mainly ways we’ve heard before. Many recall Beck’s cheekiest conceits.

Due to the depth of LaMontagne’s talent, any recording by him has automatic conviction and appeal. But Auerbach’s sound proves too defining, making the star seem like he’s trying to squeeze into another man’s clothes.


Contact Ray Lamontagne
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Vevo

Contact NY Daily News
Website | Facebook | Twitter

Sources : Ray Lamontagne Photo | Listen To Supernova | Ray Lamontagne Biography | Supernova Review

Purchase : iTunes | Amazon | Walmart

0 comments: