Amanda Easton

Flame-haired Sydney artist Amanda Easton releases ?Chanteuse' ? the follow up to the self-titled debut which delivered two Top 10 indie chart tunes and radio play nation-wide. It still features the contagious pop we've come to expect from Amanda. But this is a theatrical pop album with chilled-out electronic beats with a tinge of blues and even disco at times. It's romantic and sexy - retro torch songs with a smoky nightclub modern edge. It's heavily influenced by her love of jazz.

Resonant double-bass and emotive muted trumpets sit alongside electronic loops and electric guitars showcasing Amanda's rich soaring vocals in a more emotional, mature second album.

The latest review of Amanda's 'Chanteuse': "This girl can sing, but the most amazing thing about Amanda's singing prowess is how she can tackle such different styles and win every time.

Hearing Amanda's first album once I realised that she had, in fact, made two albums already under her own name and wasn't just a talented backing singer who deserved to make albums of her own, was no great surprise. It was an album of pretty perfect pop but with that added bonus of Easton vocals; in a world full of wannabe female vocalists here was one that could do it for real. But that didn't prepare me, nor any others I'll bet, for this roller coaster of an album that Amanda has just released called ?Chanteuse'.

...Amanda is on top form throughout and in composing or co-composing every one of the 12 songs here ( some with Simon Morel ) she proves that not only is she one of the best female singers we have but also an accomplished composer too.

Not for Amanda the little-girl-lost vocals which many female singers use and she doesn't need to shout and bawl to get her point across, here is a singer who sounds strong, confident, sassy , sexy and in control of everything. She takes you into that smoky club, complete with red velvet seats; she's up on that stage and you're hanging onto every word that she sings. And I'm sitting here in a small room in Sweden on a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon so that's some achievement. While it's all too easy for a good author to be able to transport you to another place and time it's not so easy for someone to do that just by singing in a certain style but Amanda does it time and again on this album.

If I was told at the beginning of this year that by the half way mark one the albums I'd played most this year was going to be an album of torch-type songs made by an Australian female singer and produced by one of my favourite musicians/producers I would not have believed you. But that's yet another good thing about the music that Amanda makes; never expect the expected." Malcolm Carter, PennyBlack Music

PopTarts - female music showcases
Perhaps best known as a ?PopTart', Amanda has performed with hundreds of different singer songwriters and bands at that weekly Sydney showcase night promoting original female-fronted music acts over the last six years. PopTarts is an ever-growing network of female-fronted bands and female singer-songwriters. Amanda is 'Queen of Tarts', having started the Community almost six years ago. Their new home is at The Unity Hall Hotel in Darling Street Balmain in Sydney. Keep in the loop, join our PopTarts Blog and visit our PopTarts MySpace Page.