Fans: 444
Listening to any Kyler England song, it's easy to believe you're hearing a classic in the making: gorgeous, organic pop music that speaks to your heart like a close friend. Her soulful voice draws you in with its fragile strength, then leaves you breathless when it soars to brilliant heights. She sings like you'd always wished you could, with all the raw honesty of your most painful moments and all the beauty of your fiercest hopes. There is something universal going on here, something magical. Comparisons to Sarah McLachlan and Patty Griffin are mere approximations; Kyler has a style and charisma all her own.
Simple Machine marks England’s 5th studio release and her most remarkable collection of songs to date. That’s saying a lot considering her past songs have won numerous songwriting awards (Unisong, Mid-Atlantic, and North Carolina Songwriting Contests), have earned her recognition by the International Acoustic Music Awards (Finalist for Best Female Artist), the Indie Acoustic Project (Best Alternative Rock CD), and Music Connection Magazine (Hot 100 Unsigned Artists of 2007), and appeared on TV and in film (Ghost Whisperer, Army Wives, Guiding Light, Zoey 101, Rollergirls, Paradise City and the film “The Lucky Ones” starring Rachel McAdams and Tim Robbins).
With a southern warmth and charm from her years growing up in North Carolina and a natural instinct for melody and lyrics, honed during a stint at the renowned Berklee College of Music, England crafts songs that are not only addictively catchy but full of depth. The simplicity of her words conveys a deep well of emotion and wisdom--for even in her darkest material, there is always the glimmer of optimism.
On Simple Machine, England wrestles with some tough questions- as evidenced in the title track, “how can you believe the heart is only a simple machine?”- and finds herself torn between God and science, free will and destiny, anger and forgiveness, union and solitude, and of course, the happy love song and the break-up song.
England says of the album, “It’s a little more pop-electronica, a little more alt-country, a little more singer-songwriter, and a lot more me. I feel like with every song I write and every record I make, I get closer to my truest voice both as a singer and writer. These songs all mean a lot to me personally- they’re 3/4 autobiographical and the other 1/4 are inspired by people close to me. And I’m not telling who or which songs so don’t ask,” she adds with a smile.
Playing 100+ shows a year the past 5 years including festivals like Bele Chere and the Toronto Film Festival, England has opened for Sting, Annie Lennox, Kelly Clarkson, Gavin DeGraw, Melissa Etheridge and Avril Lavigne to name a few. Her Simple Machine CD Release Tour spans the country in Spring 09. Buy Simple Machine online in the KylerStore or through iTunes.
