Amanda Jayne

Fans: 38

- Bio

Born in Smalltown, Pennsylvania (United States), Amanda Jayne soon became bored with trying to talk to the trees and went out into the world in search of more stimulating conversation. She put on her boots and grabbed whatever portable instrument happened to be on hand—in this case, the accordion. After winding around the States a few times, she ended up in Europe hitchhiking through Bulgaria and busking in Greece, until she landed in Barcelona, Spain. What started off as a fairly innocent love affair with the city turned into a seven-year-long relationship. While playing on the street in Barcelona, Amanda met Dúmbala Canalla, a local gypsy-folk-circus band. Eventually she was invited to join them in their mad circling of Catalunya and Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. After four years of playing with Dúmbala Canalla (and the madness continues!!!) she has gathered her thirty-some-odd songs she had composed during her travels and funnelled them into her solo project, a masterpiece called “Swoon”. Late nights and long hours in the Emergency Room Studio with Dave Bianchi (sound engineer, producer and musician) have resulted in a very unique collection of thirteen songs. Starting with the bare-boned accordion, guitar and voice of Amanda, she and Dave began experimenting with vibraphones and violins, layered voices and electronics, until they found the thread that they would follow until the end of the album. The collaboration of sixteen musicians (drums, stand-up bass, strings, horns) helped weave this thread into an almost-visible sonic backdrop for the tales told on “Swoon”. Love, un-love, friendship, loneliness, the struggle to survive in a sometimes monotonous world—these are old themes that we all know very well. But given an impossibly imaginative twist, we find ourselves revisiting these emotions with a new perspective. Amanda´s lyrics defy gravity and warp the three-dimensional. She gives us hope in the form of a set of blueprints to the sun. She patiently awaits revenge, hiding in the bottom of her ex-lover´s glass of wine. She gives us optimism through the eyes of a cat anticipating the nine lives that lay ahead. Life is a serious matter not to be taken too seriously—this is the message woven in and out between the raucous, sweet, circus, jazz and indie sounds of the album. The album “Swoon” will be released on September 25, but in the meantime Amanda Jayne is busy putting together her live show. This autumn she and her comic-book partners in musical crime will be ready to invite you into their world of melodic surrealism. Get ready to be explained an inside joke that not even its author understands!!!

Latest bulletin 09.13.07

coming September 25...

The debut album "Swoon" from Barcelona-based songwriter and accordion freak Amanda Jayne will be released on September 25th on iTunes and your other favorite online retail outlets! Download some free singles here now, and get the full album soon!