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PRESENTATION
SUNBEAM SURROUNDED BY WINTER is the new bittersweet album from part Spanish and part Canadian singer/songwriter Luthea Salom, produced between NY and Skopje, (Macedonia) by Malcolm Burn and Luthea herself. This is her second album and it’s evocative, immediate, poetic, luminous, personal, innovative and though rooted in different cultures, it has a clear identity of its own.
BIO
One can see reflections of Luthea’s nomadic and bohemian upbringing throughout her well crafted songs. Having grown up, travelled and lived in different parts of the world, this young multicultural and multilingual artist brings her life together with her music, proving to be a carismatic unique universe worth discovering.
The mythical qualities of a nomadic lifestyle and songwriting come somewhat naturally to Luthea, whose childhood consisted of a certain '80s-era nomadism growing in the east coast of Canada to later emmerge in a totally different culture in Spain in an artistic environment formed by paintors and writers. Finally her parents decide to settle in Barcelona, where they are originally from. Luthea soon adapts to the new language and ways, but just in time to decide to try a new life in London on her own at just 17. It’s in this capital city where she starts to discover the true artist in her, spending most of her time writing songs, playing live and collaborating with other local musicians. After this important stage of her life, restless Luthea decides to embrace yet a new culture moving to New York, where she has recorded her latest second album and has slowly been capturing the attention of both the media and North American audiences. “I feel half North American and half Mediterranean. It’s the best way I’m able to define my roots.” The vital experience found in this magical triangle formed by Barcelona, London and New York has played a major roll in the development of her artistic intuition and special creative universe, which translates through the uniqueness of her songwriting and the interpretation of her music.
MUSICAL TRAJECTORY
Luthea started her music career at a premature age. At 13 she was already the lead singer and guitar player of a young jazz formation. From here she starts to perform at different festivals around Spain and to collaborate in serveral local rock bands. At 17 she moves to London, UK, joining Bo Walton’s band as well as others while she also continues to perform as opening act for Jefferson Starship, Nils Lofgren, Alanis Morissette.
In year 2002 she records her acclaimed debut record “Out of Without” produced by grammy award winning producer Malcolm Burn (Iggy Pop, Patti Smith and Emmylou Harris) in New Orleans. Also appearing on the album are musicians Ethan Johns (Ryan Adams’ producer) and Jane Scarpantoni (Sheryl Crow, David Bowie, Norah Jones and Lou Reed).
Luthea has continued to preform live throughout Spain as well as the UK, US and Canada, where she recently shared the stage with Emmylou Harris in a Benefit Concert held in Deep River, Ottawa.
"SUNBEAM SURROUNDED BY WINTER"
In her new album SUNBEAM SURROUNDED BY WINTER, Luthea portrays herself just the way she is: a helpless observer of the world surrounding her and the world inside of her, the same one she so desperately tries to discover to then discover to us.
"Everyday I go looking for adventure...and everyday I find it locked inside, where I have my own dragons and I set off to face and fight them and, oh yes, I get burned and bitten and scratched and scraped and trampled on. But in the end I get to conquer them, or rather, my fear of them"
This new work of 12 original songs (plus one cover- Rebel Rebel by David Bowie) doesn’t only reflect the surprising energy of this devout guitar player but also her original and free spirited melodies, all lead by a sultry and at the same time, cutting voice that can sometimes be soft and sweet and others sour, but always painfully honest.
The true realm of this talented young singer/songwriter relies on that desperate need of expression so typically found in artists, giving as a result a collection of powerful and unique lyrics. She insists, though, that love is rarely the only mystery that inspires her... "Life offers so many other dead ends to get stuck in. There’s plenty of roads that can lead one to question about everything," she says. "But that's what art is - discovering your own truth, and not what you think should be the truth or what you want the truth to be.”. Luthea’s outstanding personal writing style could be equally defined as poetry or as essay, as fiction or as confessional. Although immensely varied, her subjects are all glued together by that bittersweet optimism so typical in Luthea. And it’s this unique combination of evocative melodies and thoughtful words what makes this artist’s universe so shockingly evocative.
“(…)But I am alive
Alive to see
This world inside
Is all we got
Neither love nor god
Can make us be at peace
With it
Alive to know
We are they only road
We’ll walk (…)”
‘Accidents’
“I’d rather be a bit of something
Than a lot of nothing at all
A lost case than
Never being found
A liar to the world
Than lying to myself and never know (…)”
‘Beautiful’
SUNBEAM SURROUNDED BY WINTER will be released around many European countries (Spain, UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria), South America, USA, Australia and New Zeland in 2009. Throughout this year Luthea will be performing in different festivals throughout Europe and North America and promoting her new release.
