Red Room Songs by Angela Correa

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-Marco Brizuela, Las Vegas City Life June 2003

"Red Room Songs, the singer/songwriter's self-produced, self-released debut, is full of blood, ache, heartbreak and a knowing thoughtfulness that is reflected in every note of the singer's fluttering drawl. The Cd spent weeks on KSDT radios top ten albums list, and still makes regular rotation... Correa sings with an accent not always present in her speech. "It's not a conscious thing, but I think it's a little fun to have a twang when you sing." That is, she flirts with American folk traditionalism not because it's a trendy aesthetic, but because she genuinely likes it. "When I think of country I think of Lucinda Williams and Johnny Cash, she say. "I don't think of... all that," making a keep-that-away-from-me gesture that is probably supposed to imply the Dixie Chicks or Garth Brooks.

Correa's music is miles away from pop-country, but to call her "indie" or "alt-country" would be insufficient. She praises Rambling Jack Elliot, and in the same breath says, "ideally, I'd like to write songs that don't follow form- like early Liz Phair." Her songs are intelligent, and often her lyrics address complex themes in simple language. For example, in "Consent/Coercion" she sings, "And I always seem to feel torn between consent and coercion but being near you it felt more like conversion." She explains, "Iwas sitting in a classroom listening to this political science argument about the hegemonic influence of the United States in Latin America. It's about that kind of dominating relationship with somebody." ...Correa is at once tradional and contemporary, visceral and cerebral. Her words are about sex and murder, and they are sung by a person who has hashed through these topics on an analytical level."

-Lawrence Marcus, excerpt from feature article in the UCSD Triton June 2003

"Despite being in bands for years, Angela Correa's debut comes across as someone just getting used to playing her own songs... in a good way. It's hard to be interesting when you're just one voice and one acoustic guitar and are not an especially fantastic musician or singer. But, if you have good songs, good melodies, and an honest voice to sell it with the MAYBE you can make an album this good. Most "singer/songwriters" can't but it sounds like Correa doesn't have anything else at her disposal (except for some great accompaniment on two songs by green shirted buddy Tom Brosseau) and still gives it a shot. Unlike most female acoustic artists, she comes off cool and simple and remaining completely unhippy. There are country/ folk leanings but you can tell she's probably listened to Tanya Donelly, Julianna Hatfield or Bettie Serveert while sporting those cool cowboy boots on the albums back cover. Like any great artist, Angela has already left this beginner's phase behind. She's been writing fantastic murder ballads and hitting notes that you might not think the girl on this album would."

-Adam Gimbel, Gran Fury Zine

additional press available on the official Angela Correa website, tour dates, archived radio broadcasts, as well as the video for the original murder ballad "Dear William"

http://www.angelacorrea.com

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