Amanda Rundquist – Long Long Week

I first encountered Amanda Rundquist this past summer at the end of an Alex Andrews gig at Coffee By the Bay (Bay City Wi).  Amanda was sitting at the gig crocheting or knitting (I can’t tell the difference) when she asked to borrow a guitar and proceeded to play a kick-ass folk rendition of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance.  I was so disarmed by a song like this being presented in such simple and authentic way it helped me appreciate Gaga as a great songwriter and Amanda as someone who has exquisite music taste.  I wanted to hear more from this woman.

I was pleased to learn Amanda recently released her first CD “Long Long Week.”  The album has a great singer songwriter feel (by that I mean from the heart and soul, yet universal).  I have always been a sucker for female singer songwriters since I fell for Joni Mitchell in college – so I am sympathetic to this kind of stuff. If I were to compare Amanda to another contemporary artist – she reminds me a bit of Neko Case in that she has a great genre-bending voice and is not hooked to any one style of music.  I always struggle with labeling an artist as labels can really mislead, but they are useful in helping sift though the noise.  So I will go with a gumbo: a little folk, a little country, a little rock and a little pop (pop is not a bad word in my vocabulary – remember it was the Gaga cover that first grabbed me).

Lyrically the songs are personal and real but not so self-confessional that you feel like you are awkwardly walking in on someone.   Frustrated with love, but not giving up.  The arrangements are surprisingly elaborate – this is not just a singer and guitar or piano.  Some of the songs arrangements have big ambitions, but are tasteful and subtle.

For more info see Amanda’s site.