Metro Santa Cruz - May 2005
amelia
Like their fellow Portlanders in Three Leg Torso, Amelia
has mined the entire world of music to augment their moody
and melancholy northern soundscapes. Their blend of pop music
combined with the sensual sounds of South American torch songs
is a touch of genius. This band, built around the voice of
singer Teisha Helgerson, creates intricate and oddly simple
arrangements of songs that sound half way in between the work
of Lhasa and the Tin Hat Trio. With some hints at the French
chanteuse tradition and more than a healthy dose of old time
jazz, this is a band with one foot in chamber music and the
other firmly placed in the club world. The Cayuga Vault is
the perfect setting to see such an intimate and amazing group.
Cayuga Vault; $12-$15; 8pm. (Peter Koht)
Amelia
Portland-based country/jazz/folk band Amelia orchestrates
joyfully gloomy sounds via cinematic balladry, torched country
stylings and melancholy pop. Frontwoman Teisha Helgerson evokes
the likes of Patsy Cline, Joao Gilberto and Sade, singing
several of her songs in Spanish. It?s a bilingual, countrypolitan
act that only Portland could produce.
-- Garaj Mahal