Caroline Cotter

Caroline Cotter Brings Her Evocative, Eclectic Northern New England Americana to Brooklyn

Caroline Cotter likes waltzes. She’s very good at them. Although she has a jazz background – one of her projects is the jaunty CC & the Swing Set – the Maine-based songwriter is also adept at channeling a whole bunch of other vintage Americana styles, from bluegrass to country blues to spirituals. And she sings in both English and French. Her latest album, Dreaming As I Do – streaming at her webpage – made a big splash in the folk music world earlier this year. She’s coming to town this May 8 at 8 PM at Pete’s Candy Store.

The album opens with Bella Blue, an elegant waltz, just acoustic guitar, mandolin and Cotter’s airy, expressive voice, its pastoral imagery imbued with an understatedly elegaic quality. Like several of the other tracks here, it could be a front-porch folk number from the mid-1800s. The title track, a wistful, sad only-in-dreams narrative, mashes up that vibe with a more upbeat levee camp blues spiritedness

The second number, A Midnight Escape paints a harrowing portrait of an old woman losing her memory and her grip on everything else along with it – it’s one of the most chilling songs of the year, bar none. By contrast, Cotter includes a couple of resolute oldtime gospel-flavored numbers here, Journey in C and I Am Satisfied, just vocals and fingersnaps. Amd on Champagne, she goes for a less over-the-top Peggy Lee Fever approach, with an artful arrangement of shuffling drumkit, wee-hours muted trumpet and Jed Bresette’s sparse bass. As she tells it, she wants some bubbles on her brain…because “these are the things that keep me sane!”

There are two tracks in French here. La Marinonette, a morosely swinging musette number, has some droll food references, but the mantra on the way out is ”I’m dying of hunger,” Cotter’s voice rising to an anguished peak. The other is the surreal, playful but disquieted El Est Jaune.

The rest of the album includes Pollyanna, an aphoristic, swaying minor-key tune about the kind of girl who slips away in the night; My Evergreen, a vintage hillbilly folk love ballad; and This Place, with its evocative Down East imagery. In a world full of retro-obsessed acoustic types who come across as authentic as a Chinatown Rolex, Cotter is a breath of fresh air straight off the rugged Atlantic coast. - New York Music Daily

CAROLINE COTTER is a well travelled young lady. She’s worked and lived in places like Thailand, Peru, Spain & Portugal, but home is Maine in America’s north east. She has already got recognition by winning the 2012 Maine Songwriters Association Songwriting Contest. The singer songwriter gets her first major release with “Dreaming As I Do”, an eleven track collection of interesting and varied songs, ranging from the catchy “ Bella Blue” to the simply acoustic closure , “This Place”. In between, there are classical touches in “Journey In C “, and even a couple of effective French language songs. Stand out track for me is “A Midnight Escape”. - Stewart Fenwick from Scotland’s BBC

Voor haar 16e verjaardag kreeg de jongedame Caroline Cotter een akoestische gitaar cadeau en dat was de start voor een intensieve zelfstudie om het instrument te leren bespelen. Toen ze dat helemaal onder de knie had, begon ze die gitaar ook te gebruiken voor het componeren van haar eigen liedjes.
Sinds 2007 heeft deze singer-songwriter al vijf studioalbums op haar conto staan met “Back On The Train” als eerste en “Ruth And Harry & Other Stories” uit 2010 als voorlopig laatste.
Maar nu is Caroline Cotter helemaal terug in de schijnwerpers getreden met de release van haar nieuwe album “Dreaming As I Do”, een elf liedjes tellende plaat waarop ze haar zelfgeschreven akoestische folknummers heeft samengebracht.
“Bella Blue” (zie live versie op video) is de openingstrack van deze cd en een liedje waarin gitaar, mandoline en cello voor de bijhorende instrumentatie zorgen. Die instrumenten blijven aanwezig in de tweede song “A Midnight Escape”, een minzaam gezongen walsje over een oudere dame met Alzheimer. Het daaropvolgende “Journey In C” is een kort a capella gebracht nummer, net als het later opduikende “I Am Satisfied”.
De albumtiteltrack “Dreaming As I Do” is onze favoriete song uit deze plaat. Het is een melodieuze ballad met een prachtig instrumentaal intermezzo op cello door April Reed-Cox en heerlijk mooi gezongen door Caroline Cotter. “Champagne” is een uptempo jazznummer, gevolgd door “La Marionette” dat ze volledig in de taal van Molière zingt, iets wat ze wat later opnieuw doet in het nummer “It Est Jaune”.
De nog resterende tracks “My Evergreen” met banjo en “This Place” met akoestische gitaar zijn twee liedjes waarin ze haar gevoelens van liefde bezingt voor haar nieuwe thuishaven in Portland, Maine. Caroline Cotter is naast zangeres ook nog professioneel actief als yogalerares. Wat ons betreft kan ze tijdens die lessen haar eigen plaat “Dreaming As I Do” moeiteloos laten spelen, want de kans dat je bij de beluistering van de liedjes van deze sympathieke dame alsmaar rustiger wordt is vrij groot.
(valsam)

For her 16th birthday Caroline Cotter was gifted an acoustic guitar, and that was the start of an intensive tutorial to learn to play the instrument. When she had completely mastered, she began to use the guitar to compose her own songs.
Since 2007, this singer-songwriter already has five studio albums to her credit standing with "Back On The Train" and the first "Harry & Ruth And Other Stories" in 2010 as preliminary final.
But Caroline Cotter is back in the spotlight came with the release of her new album 'Dreaming As I Do ", an eleven songs counting album on which she has brought together her self-penned acoustic folk songs.
"Bella Blue" (see live video version) is the opening track of the album and a song where the guitar, mandolin and cello provide the associated instrumentation. These instruments remain in the second song "A Midnight Escape", a suave waltz sung about an elderly lady with Alzheimer's. The subsequent "Journey In C" is a short a cappella song brought, like the later emerging "I Am Satisfied".
The album title track "Dreaming As I Do" is our favorite song from this album. It's a melodic ballad with a beautiful instrumental interlude on cello by April Reed-Cox and delicious beautifully sung by Caroline Cotter. "Champagne" is an uptempo jazz number, followed by "La Marionette" she sings entirely in the language of Molière, something she later recur in the song "It Est Jaune".
The remaining tracks "My Evergreen" with banjo and "This Place" with acoustic guitar are two songs in which she sings about her feelings of love for her new home port in Portland, Maine. Caroline Cotter's next singer still professionally active as a yoga teacher. As far as we are concerned, they during those lessons her own album 'Dreaming As I Do "effortlessly play, because the chances of you is getting calmer when listening to the songs of this likable lady is quite large.
(valsam) - Roots Time Belgium