Andrea Dawn

4 out of 5 stars. Sounds like: the exploratory organics of Over the Rhine and bluesy elements from The Band, crossed with the airy vocals of Fiona Apple or Jewel. At a glance: Our very own music critic shows her artistic side throughout a pensive collaboration that often deals with the subject of closure.

Music critics receive scores of CDs, and thus must be discerning when weeding through the masses to find true talent. Andrea Dawn Goforth tackles that task as one of Christian Music Today's critics, but now also finds herself as one of those artists wanting to stand out from the pack. Consider it done. - Andy Argyrakis

Turning our attention to musical talent within American borders, Andrea Dawn is a singer-songwriter built in the mold of Fiona Apple, brimming with bright whimsy beneath her bittersweet reflections. Influenced by the films of Tim Burton and the soulful voices of Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald, Dawn is based in Aurora, Illinois, just outside of Chicago.

On her debut album, Theories of How We Can Be Friends, the young artist thematically pursues the classic When Harry Met Sally question, "Can men and women be friends or does sex always get in the way?" Choosing to thoughtfully explore the subject rather than provide simplistic answers, Dawn says she "treats every song like a chapter" in the novella that is her piano-driven record.

While drums, bass, and piano were captured in a studio setting, the remainder of Theories was recorded at Dawn's home to include a festive array of instruments. Despite technical setbacks that delayed release, the album is currently polished, complete, and available for purchase. - The Deli

The inner circle of modern singer-songwriters that channel their music through the piano include prolific names such as Regina Spektor, Fiona Apple, Tori Amos, and Rufus Wainwright. These artists each possess so much power in their own right and they've absolutely inspired countless of other musicians to compose and perform. One of those performers that seems to have been struck by this inspiration is Andrea Dawn. Andrea Dawn is an upcoming artist from Chicago whose debut album, Theories Of How We Can Be Friends, came out last year. The record is a lush production of sweeping tales and it's also a pretty impressive introduction.

Andrea's music is centered around her sometimes soft, sometimes throaty, vocals and a heavy dose of piano. The piano serves as a backbone to each song, providing riffs and chords. "Numb And Fine" in particular even gets a little jazzy. Her voice is held above every element of the music and is truly in the spotlight for the majority of the album. I feel that the instances where a bit of reverb hits the production are when her voice hits its ideal peak.

The album's most fascinating moments are the teetering cinematic tracks like "Peter And The Sheep" and "Theories". Andrea has stated that she's a fan of Danny Elfman's work, she even covered "Sally's Song", and it's fairly evident by the whimsical yet menacing arrangements of the tracks. "Aren't We?", the album's closing song, takes a different route. It creates the mental image of soft crooning over a dimmed venue, with couples observing from a distance as they slowly dance. The song gives off such a free flowing mood and showcases another facet of the record.

I don't want to box her into a certain role, but Andrea Dawn's music fits perfectly among other contemporaries like Alison Sudol of A Fine Frenzy. One thing that stands out the most on Theories Of How We Can Be Friends is the amount of great melodies present on the record, which one could argue is the most vital part of a song. - The Soundtrack of My Life

Fans of Fiona Apple, Regina Spektor, and Rachael Yamagata are likely to gravitate towards Andrea Dawn’s full-length debut, Theories Of How We Can Be Friends, which comes on the heels of performing regionally for the past five years. In addition to ethereal vocals, quirky piano pop stylings, and lush orchestrations, her cultured and often times emotive songwriting slant is nothing short of enchanting - Andy Argyrakis - Illinois Entertainer

Speaking of things to not miss, let’s talk about today’s Pick Your Poison. Gold star tracks today come from The Airplanes, Andrea Dawn, Black Forest Fire, Freeze-Tag, KNOX, Lilac and The March Divide. - Faronheit

Turning our attention to musical talent within American borders, Andrea Dawn is a singer-songwriter built in the mold of Fiona Apple, brimming with bright whimsy beneath her bittersweet reflections. Influenced by the films of Tim Burton and the soulful voices of Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald, Dawn is based in Aurora, Illinois, just outside of Chicago.

On her debut album, Theories of How We Can Be Friends, the young artist thematically pursues the classic When Harry Met Sally question, "Can men and women be friends or does sex always get in the way?" Choosing to thoughtfully explore the subject rather than provide simplistic answers, Dawn says she "treats every song like a chapter" in the novella that is her piano-driven record.

While drums, bass, and piano were captured in a studio setting, the remainder of Theories was recorded at Dawn's home to include a festive array of instruments. Despite technical setbacks that delayed release, the album is currently polished, complete, and available for purchase. - BuffaBlog

Andrea Dawn talks through her music-making process with me in an authentic and inviting way. She’s a genuine soul, full of ideas inspired purely by the heart. While Andrea may be a free spirit, she understands how important it is to set goals for herself in order to get to the places that make her the happiest. Meeting those goals have brought her to a spot she should be proud of. Andrea is life’s sponge; She absorbs the truth in every small interaction that people or circumstances allow and uses it to communicate with the world. She can’t help but create, and thank goodness she does.

Q: Who and what influences you to write music in the way that you do? Are there specific artists who inspire you?

I’m mostly inspired by situations I experience with people. There is nothing more interesting to me than the workings of the heart. With most people I meet, I want to sit and pull their entire life stories out of them, and of course share mine….trauma share…if you will. Every little feeling or hope or fantasy I have usually makes it into a song. Any matters of the heart. I’m working on writing outside of that, writing outside of myself. I think that will come in time.

And there are definitely artists who inspire me. Fiona Apple has always been a huge influence. I listen to a lot of Nina Simone, too. I find her spirit and talent just breath taking. Both of these ladies are phenomenal piano players, as well.

Q: When did you begin writing your own music and why?

I started writing music at 12, I think. I started taking classical piano lessons at age 4 or 5 and really just struggled through the whole thing. I hated it. When I was 12, the youth pastor/worship leader at my church showed me a trick to build any major or minor chord, and it just opened up my world. Then when I would sit down at the piano to practice for my lessons, it would only take about five minutes for me to get distracted by writing something. It just felt a lot more natural to me create than copy. Plus I loved to sing, for as long as I could remember. When I learned chords and figured out I could play piano to support my singing, I just loved to sit down and write. My sister would have to beg me to stop. It was like a compulsion. It still feels like a compulsion to sit down and write. I can’t exactly explain why. It’s just the place where I get to say whatever it is I need to say, and let it go.

Q: Do you set goals for yourself? If you do, do you find that setting goals helps you or hinders you due to the pressure of reaching expectations you set for yourself?

I don’t set exact time goals for myself or anything, but I guess you could say I set goals. I tend to look at my songs in groups. The songs on Theories were a group. Now I’ve moved on to writing my next “group” of songs, and I can always tell either when the group is finished or when I have more to write. If I feel like I have more left to write in a particular set of songs, I will be pretty dedicated to sitting down at the piano a few times a week to try and write, especially while I’m still in the same mind set. When it comes to recording I set very strict goals, and those help A TON. I would never finish an album if I didn’t say “Ok, this has to be done by January.” I would just push off actually recording anything until suddenly a year had gone by. So yes, in recording and writing, goals are taken pretty seriously.

Q: Tell me about an experience that you’ve had at a show or within some sort of performance situation where you felt embraced and proud to be a woman in the music industry.

On Record Store Day 2012 I played at a restaurant next to a record store that was having a midnight sale. It was a really intimate night and I felt very at home. After the show a woman came up to me and told me that I was “just the essence of a woman… a real woman.” It was one of the best compliments I’ve ever gotten. What that said to me is that she really connected with the music, which is what I always hope for. We aren’t all that different as people, and especially as women. I hate the stereotype that women are these… non-personable, non-sexual…co-stars in the movie of life. My music is full of passion, love, lust, anger, philosophies etc. What I really felt like she was saying was that she feels all those things too. I love to see women embrace that.

Q: Now tell me about a situation that made you feel alienated or as though you were treated unfairly for being a woman in the music scene.

I can feel myself get angry before I even start typing this. Back in 2008 I was on the hunt for a recording studio to make a split-LP with my friend and fellow songwriter Jeremy Junkin. I called a certain recording studio in Chicago, fairly well known, to set up a tour of the studio. On the phone they asked me if I was setting up the tour for my husband, boyfriend, or son. I didn’t think too much of it at the time and said “for me.” After I hung up, I got more and more upset about it..... - Twatstock

What is the history of your place? What is your favorite element of the space?
The building was constructed around 1860, back in the time when a lot of business owners would
work downstairs and live upstairs. We haven’t been able to track down exactly what it used
to be, but we are pretty sure it was always an office downstairs and an apartment up here. My
favorite element of the space is the windows. I remember when we first walked in I was totally
overwhelmed by the beauty of the space, the 12ft ceilings, and the three huge loft windows. I’ve
also done a lot of painting and decorating here that has really made it feel like home.

You recently put out a new album with the help of many supporters on Kickstarter and went on tour to support it. What was your favorite part of making the album and being on tour?
My favorite part of making the album was the mixing. Maybe it’s laziness because that part was
easy for me! But I think mostly it was the feeling that I could breathe and let go a little. I knew the
album was in great hands with Brian Zieske (Gallery of Carpet Studio), and it was just amazing to
finally hear all the pieces come together, pieces we had been working on for almost a year and
a half. During the mixing process I took off work (my day job as a bridal consultant) and got to
spend a week just doing what I love, and doing the best part of it: sitting and listening, editing,
eating, drinking, laughing, going a little stir crazy… it’s such a good time.

My favorite part of being on tour was seeing so many different landscapes in such a short amount
of time. In one day we drove from Austin, TX to San Diego, CA, and it was amazing to watch the
scenery change. I have to mention that my favorite place to stop, however, was Brattleboro, VT.
I have a very dear friend who lives there. We stayed with him and his boyfriend for a few days,
and it was pretty amazing. We swam in rivers, and went to odd little record shops. The houses
and landscapes there seem like they are out of a painting or a movie. Paul, my Brattleboro friend,
even convinced me to go to church Sunday morning, which I hadn’t been to in about 2 years, and
it was really a place full of love and acceptance.

You recorded most of your new album here, but also recorded parts in a studio. How did the two different spaces affect the outcome of your album?
That’s a tough question. I think the multiple spaces served us in exactly the way we needed them
to. The parts we did in the studio we had down pat; we basically knew exactly what we needed
to do for drums, piano, and vocals. Everything else was a little bit up in the air. All the other
parts were done at the apartment, or in odd spaces around town. We demoed, listened to, and
reworked a lot of the parts we did here at home. It really gave us the time and freedom to play.
The downside, however, is that we didn’t back up our hard drive like we should have, and in one
devastating crash, lost 6 months of work. That doesn’t normally happen when you do everything
at a studio. But we recovered, and even ended up liking some of the re-recorded parts better. I
think for me, being able to sit alone in my own space, where I’m comfortable and record parts
before anyone could analyze or criticize them, was vital. I needed the freedom to experiment with
parts that may sound totally insane to other people. Some of those parts made the album, and
some really did sound ridiculous.

If you could play another instrument, what would you want it to be?
I would love to be able to play cello. It’s such a beautiful and soothing instrument. Plus I hear a
lot of cello in my music and it would be nice to be able to lay down those parts myself.

What book character do you most identify with, and why? (question asked by Annie)
Ok, here is my confession that I don’t read nearly as much as I should. And here is my totally
girly, stereotypical answer to that question: Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. I guess I
could say that she is the character that I would most like to be. I can tend to be a very stubborn girl, dead set on being self-sufficient. My car had a flat tire one day and I just loathed that I had to
call my husband for help. I tried for 30 minutes to do it myself first and couldn’t. I think Elizabeth
would have done the same. But at the end, she ends up being love sick like the rest of the girls.
That’s pretty much me. But she’s smart and funny and different. I hope that could be me.

What would be an interesting question to ask the next person/band to be on By Measure?
What music do you think people would be surprised to know you listen to?

Andrea's Playlist:
1. Fiona Apple - On the Bound
2. Rufus Wainwright - Foolish Love
3. Jon Brion - Ruin My Day
4. Nina Simone - I Want a Little Sugar In My Bowl
5. Regina Spektor - Samson
6. Harry Nilsson - The Puppy Song
7. Feist - Let It Die
8. Rachael Yamagata - Horizon - By Measure

When Andrea Dawn grew up in Winthrop Harbor, Illinois, she studied voice and piano but could equally enjoy the rougher music of Led Zeppelin and The Guess Who. At age ten she saw the singer-songwriter light, was inspired by, among other Alanis Morissette and Fiona Apple. The music of Andrea Dawn can be described as piano pop with intense and soulful vocals in the proper sense by bone and marrow. How that sounds you can judge for yourself by listening to "Peter And The Sheep" from the debut album released earlier this year Theories Of How We Can Be Friends .

Along with fellow singer/songwriter Jeremy Junkin, First Try at Goodbye is tied around themes of closure and letting go of less than pleasant relationships. It's a prickly topic, but handled with poignancy, honesty and courage in these eight folk-flavored pop tunes.

There's also plenty of instrumental variety, ranging from Over the Rhine-inspired earthiness ("Better Be Good"), the bluesy side of The Band ("Over It"), and even classical allusions ("Clarinet Suite"). All the while, Dawn (who drops her last name here) recalls versatile vocalists Fiona Apple, Karin Bergquist, and Jewel, shaping her stylings somewhere between folk, jazz and alluring indie pop. - Andy Argyrakis - File Under New Music

Chicago artist Andrea Dawn makes classy debut with piano led ten tracker. Think an equally feminine Rufus and you’re getting there. - State Magazine

Illinois songwriter Andrea Dawn wears her piano pop proclivities for all to see. Her earnestly emotional lyrics and deceptively simple compositions belie the weight of the often grave, though ultimately hopeful, narratives found within her music–especially on her latest album, Theories of How We Can Be Friends, which was released last year on Waterloo Sunset Records. And so Dawn is no timid, sheltered character within her own songs. Singing as though she’s the last defense against the encroaching darkness, Dawn places herself and her piano between us and whatever is slowly circling in the shadows. And by sheer (musical) force of will and with a voice that seems to shatter the gloom surrounding us, she leads those willing to listen out of whatever physical or emotional malaise within which they find themselves caught. - Beats Per Minute

Vaudevillian? Farce? Satire? Haunting? Baroque? The label doesn’t matter, because in the end it is all wacky and wonderful fun in the musical world of Andrea Dawn and her merry band of pranksters. Straight from Chi Town, they released their first full-length studio album in 2012, Theories of How We Can Be Friends. At first listen, count me in! With a sound and style, that meshes the style of Jon Brion—(Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and early Fiona Apple, and then transports them to the mansion that Edward Scissorhands inhabits, where they proceed to play; oh yes, we can definitely be friends. All of this is to say, that I love this quirky, unique band; and I dig the sound and vibe of Chicago Songstress, Andrea Dawn.

Theories, is powerful, passionate and poetic; and I imagine that Andrea Dawn possesses all these qualities as well. The video, Peter and The Sheep, which I found immediately fascinating, grabs you visually and aesthetically. Strong vocals and even stronger piano playing, which ebb and flow, giving us a musical journey, that is at times melancholic, at other times subversively humorous.

The band is a trio of Andrea Dawn, slicing the ivories and delivering eerily haunting vocals; Zach Goforth drops the Bass beat and Dan Knighten stands firm as Drummer. They are an eclectic assortment of talented collaborators; as many independent artists are; people who believe in a vision and then go for it with heart and soul. She ran a successful KickStarter campaign, recorded the album in her own loft studio, and gathered a small army of fans along the way. The album has been a college radio station favorite from Portland to Canada and was ranked in the ‘Top 100 Albums of November for KALX in Berkeley, CA.’ Back in the eighties, when I was spinning discs at my college radio, KTEC in Klamath Falls, Oregon, I would have spun the crap out of this one.

Andrea Dawn sings with maturity; defying the current conception of what young artists sound like. No Pop Princess here; no saccharine sweet simpleton. No, this is the beautiful work of a profoundly mature young artist, and she is one that you cannot afford to miss. So, wherever you go Andrea Dawn, the best theory, is that we will be friends on the musical highway for a long time to come.

You can check out Theories at iTunes or Amazon. Better yet, if you are in one of the neighborhoods that the following fine independent record stores call home, stop in and purchase it there. The good karma alone is worth the purchase price.
Kiss the Sky – Batavia, IL
The Record Lounge – East Lansing, MI
Turn it Up! – Brattleboro, VT and Keene, NH
Waterloo Records – Austin, TX
Antone’s Records – Austin, TX
2nd Avenue Records – Portland, OR

Ryan Says:
Andrea Dawn channels her voice and piano-driven sounds into 2013 with a new single. A dark brooding undercurrent delivers the latest song “Peter and the Sheep” to a triumphant climax. This track marks the second single from Dawn’s album “Theories of How We Can Be Friends.” It feels somehow threatening, yet in a tense approachable sort of way. This is not the tension you find walking through the valley at night. This is the tension that enlightens a troubled love, an adoration for the climactic hugeness of a theatrical production. Peter and the Sheep takes no faults in soaring wildly, the voice of Dawn weaving throughout the song like an eloquently pointed searing pen, knitting aggressively the dips and holes of some crazed creation. One hopes it would have went on longer than the allotted 5 minutes or so, building and handling its way through a further labyrinth, but it seems Dawn wants to keep the track tightly knit, perhaps exploring these new caverns on later tracks.

If Peter and the Sheep is a sign of where Dawn wants to go in the future, she is certainly an artist worthy of study. Her voice shines with darkness largely unknown in the pop sphere, and the instrumentation sounds like a much more sophisticated Lana Del Rey, with a greater emphasis on the “Nightmare Before Christmas” aesthetics, as opposed to the driveling lost love. Andrea Dawn has been around in the nicest of ways, and wants to bring you into her world of stories, chills, and the dark forest which lines the surface of every music listener’s comfort zone. - The Noise Beneath the Apple

The album is extraordinary, a triumphant and uncompromising coming out party for an uncommonly good singer and songwriter.

This is Andrea’s first full-length solo album, following a split LP with Jeremy Junkin and a live EP, and she worked on it for a year and a half with her incredibly talented husband, Zach Goforth. Andrea tickles the piano and sings like a smoky angel, while Zach plays every instrument known to man with a skill that will make your jaw drop. Their drummer is Dan Knighten, and while most other drummers might just keep a beat, Knighten paints little percussion pictures behind many of these tunes. It takes a few listens for his work to sink in, but he’s fantastic.

In fact, it may take a few listens for all of Theories to really take hold. This is a particularly subtle album, full of simple tunes that will sneak up and wallop you. The first song, "Theories," is nothing but piano, strings and Andrea’s stunning voice, and it’s your first hint that this is not going to be a collection of pop singles, but rather a journey. The piece – part Fiona Apple, part Radiohead’s “Pyramid Song” – is gorgeous, a dark and dramatic kiss-off. It’s a song clearly addressed to someone in particular, and she begins by asking if that person knows the role he plays in her lack of innocence, and then ends with this: “Since I’ve given everything, each verse, each melody, I’m afraid it has to be nothing at all…”

It’s a bold choice for an opener, but it soon smoothly glides into “Numb and Fine,” which rides a Dan Knighten drum pattern and a repeating piano figure into one of the record’s best tunes. This one’s like driving through a dark tunnel at night, with some ringing vibes to add atmosphere. It takes more than two minutes for the song to reach its full bloom, and the crescendo is so subtle you may not even notice how much it builds.

But Andrea and Zach have just been easing you in at this point. They pull out all the stops for “Fightin’ Off That Bad,” a relatively simple tune that sounds like they spent a million bucks on it. In fact, it’s the only one here that feels weighted down by the production, instead of buoyed by it. It starts with a slinky bass line and a simple yet appealing chorus, one that gives Andrea her Adele moment around the two-minute mark. But then they pile on a full horn section, clarinets, a synth breakdown with a million little percussion instruments surrounding it, and an admittedly awesome low-moan vocal ending. That it almost pulls it off through sheer confidence is kind of remarkable.

After that, you’ll need a break, and “Underground” shows up at just the right time. A little wisp of a song, “Underground” floats by on lovely backing vocal harmonies. It doesn’t do much, but at this point in the album, it doesn’t need to. It takes you by the hand and leads you to “Spell It Out,” one of the record’s best – it has a melody that will stick with you, and the soaring bridge is probably my favorite part of the album. “Peter and the Sheep” is similarly dramatic, Andrea’s voice gliding over a staccato, Regina Spektor-ish piano figure. The lyrics are a twist on “Peter and the Wolf,” and the orchestration on this one is breathtaking.

But for all the sound and fury harnessed on this album, perhaps its most affecting song is “Old Letters,” featuring nothing but Andrea and her piano. It’s a demo recorded at home, and it’s remarkably intimate, delivering her best lyric with all the emotion it deserves. The song is a soft cry for lasting love, the singer writing of it in letters hidden below floorboards, carving it into tree trunks, keeping it in a locket around her neck. It’s tinged with sadness – as she cuts initials into a heart on a tree, she sighs, “Five or so years from now when you hardly know my name, we’ll have made history just the same…”

The greatness continues with “No Love for the Devil.” Theories is not an album full of pop hits – it’s too much of a personal journey for that – but if there’s one song here with the chance of breaking wider, it’s this one. You’ll hear why the second Andrea starts the chorus: “Bye bye, baby, oh oh, I can see…” When those clean guitar hits come in (courtesy of fellow Aurora musician Jeremy Keen), it’s magic. This song has been in my head since I first heard it, and it’s my favorite thing here.

Unfortunately, the record stumbles near the end. “Silent May” is a bit of a mess, based around an impressive, hyperactive drum pattern that doesn’t quite mesh with the simple piano chords played over it. The song’s back half is a piano-bass-drums jam that never quite lifts off – if any moment of this album could have used some intense orchestration, it’s this one. After that, “Aren’t We” is a sweet comedown, a lullaby on Rhodes piano and brushes. After the tumbling relationship depicted in “Silent May,” the closer is soothing and delightful: “All this time we thought if we could just not fall in love, but we already are, aren’t we?” - Tuesday Morning 3 a.m.

When you describe something as piano pop, what are the names that most quickly come to mind? Ben Folds, Rufus Wainwright, and Fiona Apple are pretty good examples of the genre, though even these artists have all branched out at some point and stretched their limits as musicians. There also seems to be a bit of a stigma when approaching music which seems so ebulliently emotional. But Aurora, IL-raised singer Andrea Dawn seems less concerned with anyone’s preconceived notions and more concerned with singing until her voice cracks and the darkness seeps away into the dawn. I may be overstating it a bit but this is anthemic stuff–the sound of an orchestral catharsis. It also doesn’t hurt that the opening to this song bears a striking resemblance to “The Way We Get By” by Spoon. What can I say, I’m a sucker for a great melodic piano line. Check out “Peter and the Sheep” from her album Theories Of How We Can Be Friends which came out earlier this year on Waterloo Sunset Records. - Beats Per Minute