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Put your hands on the remote! browse music »Swim With Me by Allette Brooks
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fave it Political | Modern Folk
11 tracks | 48 minutes
Released Oct 2001
on Allette Brooks
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- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:51 Swim With Me lyrics BUY MP3 03:51 Swim With Me lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:51 Swim With Me
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 05:46 Share lyrics BUY MP3 05:46 Share lyrics "GIFT MP3" 05:46 Share
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:35 Driving lyrics BUY MP3 04:35 Driving lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:35 Driving
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 05:00 Never Was lyrics BUY MP3 05:00 Never Was lyrics "GIFT MP3" 05:00 Never Was
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:13 Rolling Blackout lyrics BUY MP3 04:13 Rolling Blackout lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:13 Rolling Blackout
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:35 Refuge lyrics BUY MP3 04:35 Refuge lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:35 Refuge
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:31 Fireflies lyrics BUY MP3 04:31 Fireflies lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:31 Fireflies
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:30 Same Room lyrics BUY MP3 04:30 Same Room lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:30 Same Room
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:34 Ice Age lyrics BUY MP3 03:34 Ice Age lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:34 Ice Age
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:02 Loverly lyrics BUY MP3 03:02 Loverly lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:02 Loverly
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:59 Okavango lyrics BUY MP3 04:59 Okavango lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:59 Okavango
Lyric-packed, rhythmic folk, highlighting her quirky humor, powerful guitar-playing, and dynamically expressive voice.
Editorial review
California-based singer, songwriter, and acoustic guitarist Allette Brooks continues to showcase her engaging musical talents with her third full-length album, Swim With Me, this one done on her own record label. The indie folk artist is a powerful singer, classically trained, completely competent with a guitar in hand, and gifted when it comes to writing lyrics that can be anything from humorous to poetic to simply out of the ordinary, depending on her intentions and her mood. Brooks performs nearly 200 shows each year, sure to entertain, but her fans won't be disappointed with the efforts she puts forth in her studio recordings either. This album -- though done on a small budget compared to many others -- carries a number of noteworthy tunes written by Brooks, such as "Never Was," "Rolling Blackout," "Same Room," "Refuge," and "Ice Age." Allette Brooks' music is in line with that of other popular artists like Ani DiFranco, Michelle Shocked, Lucinda Williams, and Beth Nielsen Chapman. ~ Charlotte Dillon, All Music Guide
Bio / Background
Allette Brooks is a passionate and articulate singer-songwriter, committed to working towards healing on individual, community and global levels. She is a dedicated yoga practitioner, teaching Forrest Yoga at home and on the road.
Allette has released three self-produced CDs and sold over 5000 copies. She's a classically trained vocalist now singing acoustic folk. She didn't pick up her instrument of choice, a guitar, until she was studying ecology in Botswana as a college junior. She played until her fingers bled (this actually happened!) and then jumped into national touring four years later, playing over a hundred shows each year and winning fans from Astoria, OR., to Brunswick, ME.
In 2004, Allette took a hiatus from touring to pursue her longtime vision of studying music about HIV/AIDS in Botswana. In May 2006, Allette completed her MA in African Studies at Yale University with a thesis titled, “Music and HIV/AIDS in Botswana: Rearticulating Relationships Through Song.
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Allette’s recent experiences doing fieldwork in Africa, teaching yoga, and turning thirty have inspired a spate of new songs, including Lofoka, ‘the scent of rain’, written in Setswana. Stay tuned for gigs and recording plans in 2007!
Allette released her latest album, "Swim With Me" in November 2001, and continued to tour extensively including stops at the National Women’s Music Festival, the Tucson Folk Festival and the Emerging Artists Showcase at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. Known after the title of her second album, as the “Silicon Valley Rebel”, Allette was interviewed as part of a BBC syndicated radio documentary about the development of Silicon Valley. Her songs Rolling Blackout and Driving were featured in the musical accompaniment to the program. An avid swimmer, Allette searches for a place to swim at every stop during a tour. Her hydro-tours made a splash and The National Pool and Spa Journal published a story about Allette’s aquatic passion in their bi-monthly magazine. Allette's deep connection with the earth is evidenced in her songs, as comments on ecological issues mingle with colorful imageries of the natural world. Recognizing this, Whole Earth Magazine recently included Allette in their feature on Eco-folk music. As part of her Swim With Me tour, Allette opened several shows for Al Stewart and entertained audiences across the country at venues ranging house concerts to Club Passim and the Freight and Salvage.
Allette's deft touch and razor sharp wit leaves listeners laughing at themselves and our species, while marveling at her skill on the strings. A student of human biology, she recognizes the complexity of environmental/social issues. She focuses on raising awareness rather than preaching solutions. Although, she says, "Being a folk artist, as opposed to being a mainstream pop artist, is inherently political. It's a choice to relate to people on a different level, to be really honest, to be open-hearted, and to be yourself." Her audiences respond with delight to that honesty, as well as her strong stage presence, intelligence, sarcastic wit and clear love of her art and theater. In an average show, audience members vote, sing, and take a quiz or two.
Some highlights from her latest release include: Rolling Blackout, a social and ecological commentary about Americans’ excessive use of energy; Same Room, which gives voice to the fear and isolation of a child immigrant; an ode to the magnificence of Midwestern fireflies; Ice Age, the geologist breakup song; and a piece written in the Okavango Delta in Botswana that has been an interactive hit with live audiences.
The title track of her second disk, "Silicon Valley Rebel," paints a sketch of a feminist friend who bikes her environmental, gender and economic viewpoints to the corporate cubicle where she is a diva web page designer.
Her first album, "Privilege," was inspired by experiences in Africa and at Stanford, where her exposure to environmental problems and gender, race and economic inequities mobilized and energized her poetry.
Allette has produced her own CDs, choosing the artistic integrity and freedom over security -- and giving herself the time to get each track just right. Her music is available at CDbaby.com!
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