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BIOGRAPHY
Edith Frost is back from a four-year canter through the
wilderness. IT’S A GAME is her first release since 2001’s WONDER
WONDER — and it finds Edith still at the top off her game, writing
and singing songs from both sides of the heartbreak.
She’s been called a chanteuse and a country torch singer — but
Edith’s style of writing, singing and playing is all that and more.
Since 1996, she’s honed her song craft on a series of Drag City
releases — starting with a self-titled, home-recorded EP and a
subsequent trio of acclaimed albums, each of which presented a
unique setting, turning Edith subtly away from the country
underpinnings of her songs. Since Edith Frost’s “country” has
many roots — country, folk, blues and soul, tin-pan alley and jazz —
this makes the eclectic nature of her discography a natural thing.
The spacious post-folk of CALLING OVER TIME (1997) was
succeeded by the eclectic, druggy textures TELESCOPIC (1998)
and the pristine pop production of WONDER WONDER.
Through all the changes, Edith toured constantly, traveling across
America and in Europe. However, after the lengthy WONDER
WONDER tour in the wake of 9/11, Edith came home with no immediate plans to make or play music.
The time passed quickly, as it often does — and after a sudden couple years of this silence, songs
slowly began to come. A couple of shows were played...then a couple of tours. Finally, musicians
were called and sessions were scheduled — we've been waiting awhile for a new album from Edith.
IT’S A GAME combines the talents of long-time Edith Frost collaborators, bassist Ryan Hembrey,
multi-instrumentalist Mark Greenberg (who tripled-timed as engineer and arranger) and producer
Rian Murphy, with other great Chicago players — bassist Josh Abrams (of Town and Country and
Prefuse 73, among many others), vocalist/keyboardist Lindsay Anderson (L’Altra), percussionist
Jason Toth (The Zincs, Manishevitz), pianist Azita (AZITA), trumpet player Dave “Max” Crawford
(The Mekons, among many others), fingerpicker John Hasbrouck and new guitarist on the block,
wonderkid Emmett Kelly. The colors these people brought to Edith’s fine new songs have produced
a new sound for Edith Frost; more her than ever before, while still referencing where she’s been
already.
Fans of her records will welcome an old friend and some new favorites back into their lives — and if
you've never heard Edith Frost before, you’re in for a treat — IT’S A GAME is a great first date. |
