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Swan Song Series (Vol. 3)

by Tanya Donelly

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BeagleBay
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BeagleBay A beautiful collection of fairly diverse collaborations blended together by Tanya using ever-more nuanced ethereal vocals. The purely poetic lyrics are in line with all her other efforts...across 4 decades Tanya has never phoned in a lyric...every song elicits contemplation and emotion. Favorite track: Cygnet Song.
Michael Reilly
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Michael Reilly More beautiful songs from the Swan Song Series of EP's. As ever, Tanya's voice carries these tales with empathy and understanding for the subjects she sings about. Favorite track: Hildago Street.
54LesPaulJr
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54LesPaulJr Amazingly I took an instant liking to every song on all of Tanya Donelly's new EP's (very unusual for me but a norm with T). I can't wait to take these works to my sons place where he can play a FLAC file (on a better system then mine) so we can both hear one of the greatest vocalist/composer of our time in real hifi! I still don't believe there's an artist who can write and perform so many songs that always have merit that are right on so please write on!
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VivaKaraoke 02:30
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Cygnet Song 02:54
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about

Volume 3 Blurbage


Written/Unread
Written with Michael Hearst (One Ring Zero) who is a creator of projects, writer of music (and children's books), and connector of people. I won’t attempt to list it all, so: michaelhearst.com.
This song is about guarded happiness, life off radar, secrets, and love.

VivaKaraoke
Love this! So much fun to sing these words. This song is about choosing a song, and choosing in general. And putting an end to pretend. And about how music can save the night.
Music written by my hilarious and talented friend Kraig Jordan (The Masons), who is good at putting, and keeping, things in perspective. Kraig, you rule.

Far Away and Hard to See
These words were pulled from a short story sent to me by Mary Gaitskill ~ most lines are directly lifted from the narrative. Mary’s story, “Wish Fulfillment”, was written for a compilation called Noise: Fiction Inspired by Sonic Youth. Link to the story: www.fiftytwostories.com?p=44
I am proud of this song ~ my first written from prose. Another song about decisions and secrets.
Music by Michael Hearst.

Hidalgo Street
There are many streets in Mexico named for Miguel Hidalgo ~ this one is on Isla Mujeres, Yucatan, where I wrote the words for this. I’d just spent the night talking with a woman who told me story after story of local lore and history, all of them intense and centered around women: the devoted and difficult pilgrimages of Maya women to the island sanctuary of the goddess Ixchel; the fishwives and pirate mistresses who governed while their partners were at sea; a very terrible pirate humbled and driven crazy by unrequited love for a local girl called The Brunette; sightings of the Virgin walking on the water. Walking back to my room later, I thought of these stories as little globs of song buried in the sand and floating in the bay, and of generations of girls finding them, and leaving their own.
Music by Dean Fisher.

Cygnet Song
This song is sweet and quiet and gorgeously played by Manolis Famellos. It also kind of tidily wraps the overarching (and overworked) concept of this series, and that would be a great back story for it. But it was actually written years ago for an album that Manolis and Mark Eitzel and I were starting to work on together, as follow-up to an album that Mark and Manolis made called The Ugly American. Then, unfortunately and almost simultaneously, Mark was unable to continue and I had a small but ugly breakdown, and Manolis was left confused and with an album full of beautiful, unsung songs. (There is no way to apologize to him in proportion, and no way to express how deeply I regret this.) But Manolis did finish the album (sung by Jessica Kilroy) and I will be trumpeting that release when it happens, because it is beautiful. (www.famellos.gr)


Bonus cover tracks:

I Would Like To Call It Beauty (Corinne Bailey Rae)
A few years ago, Corinne Bailey Rae covered an old Belly song called Low Red Moon, which meant a ton to me because I love her. My daughters and I have a ritual called Wild Women Dancing, and CBR’s Put Your Records On was on rotation for this event for a few years running.
This particular song here is a thing of wonder to me.

Midnight Flower (Bob Kendall)
Written by my friend Bob Kendall for his wonderful album, also called Midnight Flower, and found here: bobkendall.com/store/
Bob sings the lead vocal on his album and I sang some back-ups, but he had me sing the lead just for fun that night, and now I’m taking advantage of that.

credits

released October 11, 2013

Swan Song Series Volume 3

cover painting “peekaboo” by Sue McNally (suemcnally.com)

Written/Unread (Donelly/Hearst)
TD -- vocals
Michael Hearst -- keyboard, theremin
recorded by Michael Hearst at Urban Geek Studio, Brooklyn NY, with additional vocals recorded by Tanya at Studio 24
mastered by Eric Masunaga at Modulus Studios, Boston, MA

VivaKaraoke (Donelly/Jordan)
TD -- vocals
Kraig Jordan -- synth, guitar
produced and recorded by Kraig Jordan at Plan of a Boy Studio, Providence RI, vocals recorded by Tanya at Studio 24
mastered by Eric Masunaga at Modulus Studios, Boston, MA

Far Away and Hard to See (Donelly/Gaitskill)
TD -- vocals
Michael Hearst -- keyboards, recording and mixing
mastered by Eric Masunaga at Modulus Studios, Boston, MA
recorded by Michael Hearst at Urban Geek Studio, Brooklyn NY, vocals recorded by Tanya at Studio 24

Hidalgo Street (Donelly/Fisher)
TD -- vocals
Dean Fisher -- guitars, keyboards, percussion
Joseph McMahon -- bass
David Brophy -- drums
recorded by Paul Q. Kolderie and Adam Taylor, assisted by Alex Hartman, at Camp Street Studios, Cambridge MA, with additional recording by T and Dean at Studio 24.
mastered by Eric Masunaga at Modulus Studios, Boston, MA

Cygnet Song (Donelly/Famellos)
TD -- vocals
Manolis Famellos -- ukelele, classical and acoustic guitars
recorded by Andreas Vaitoudis and Manolis Famellos at Praxis Studio, Athens, Greece, with vocals recorded by Tanya at Studio 24
mixed and mastered by Eric Masunaga at Modulus Studios, Boston, MA


bonus tracks:

I Would Like To Call It Beauty (Corinne Bailey Rae)
TD -- vocal
Joseph McMahon -- piano
produced, mixed, and mastered by Matt Beaudoin at Q Division Studios, Somerville, MA

Midnight Flower (Bob Kendall)
TD -- vocals
Bob Kendall- guitars, vocals 
Greg Kendall - synth
Chuck Ciany - bass
Dan Wright - pump organ
recorded by Kraig Jordan at Plan of a Boy Studio, Providence RI
mastered by Matt Beaudoin at Q Division Studios, Somerville, MA

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