Sye Elaine Spence
Brooklyn, NY | Established. Jan 01, 2014 | SELF
Music
Press
Simply put, the Bloom Ep is tricky. Sye Elaine Spence expels magic one enchanting note at a time, fooling one’s multi-sensory preceptors into feeling sun rays and velvety flower petals, smelling fragrant creek water and the back and forth momentum of a porch swing. The four songs on Bloom are rapturing portals, taking listeners into more picturesque scenes than their own. Not just when Spence sings descriptively of halcyon days on “Long Live The Summertime,” but more so when she lends her delicate timbre to Bob Marley’s “Is This Love”. The transposing glee in her vocal performance is captivating throughout. She is a storyteller, and with every pluck of the acoustic accompaniment, a truthful narrative of love and pain is exposed. Though short-lived, Bloom is spellbinding, proving Sye Elaine Spence a master of her craft. - The Couch Sessions
Atlanta-based songstress Sye Elaine Spence creates a homestead of banjo chordo-phones, soul-folk harmonies, compelling story tales, and nectarous vocal arrangements. Inspired by peaceful strolls along the Oconee River and the tranquilizing landscapes of a horse farm, the New York native conceived her spell-binding Bloom EP.
Now, the songstress is back with the official cinematic pictorials for the project’s title-track:
“This video was produced by myself and Antonio Lewis.There is not an actual director since we did not shoot the video ourselves. It is a vintage home movie recorded in the 1960′s. The reason I chose this particular visual is because It was reminiscent of the journeying happening in my life at this particular time.
With tiny dancer in the womb, I was entering my very own dance with the unknown.I had no concept of trusting the journey before that point and then all of a sudden something so beautiful shakes up all i thought i knew to remind me I knew nothing at all. So that circling car was me and my hearts longing desire to get to where I needed to be, for her.”
Sye Elaine Spence provides a nostalgic ambiance to her genre-blending sounds. Her relaxed vocals pivots softly behind the gentle banjo strings and sensual synths creating experimental music that “transports you to a more peaceful place.” Her sweet vocals provides a calming melody fortified with good vibes. - Saint Heron
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In a soundscape filled with blips, synths, machine gun hi-hats, and vocal effects, hearing a single voice over a gently plucked banjo is a change of pace—a very nice change of pace. Welcome Sye Elaine Spence, an independent artist from New York and currently based in Atlanta.
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I’m an experimentalist by nature so I know that there are places sonically and lyrically that I want to explore in the future, but there will always be elements of simplicity as long as it continues to feels true.
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“As a songwriter, I’ve embraced so many different styles while writing for other artists and even experimenting with my own work,” Sye explains. “Nothing felt more real to me than stripping everything away so that my words and voice stood at the forefront. When I set out to write these pieces, it was during a time in my life where I was desperately seeking to feel real. It was a period of untangling, uncluttering, examination and embracing, and the music was undoubtedly affected by that. I’m an experimentalist by nature so I know that there are places sonically and lyrically that I want to explore in the future, but there will always be elements of simplicity as long as it continues to feels true.”
Sye’s new project is an EP called Bloom, and it’s the kind of music that transports you to a more peaceful place. Undoubtedly, it was influenced by the setting in which it was conceived. “The entire project was written and recorded between Athens, GA and Micanopy, FL on Michael’s family’s horse farm,” Sye explains. “It was a bit surreal to me, as I’ve always been around city scenery and life. But it was exactly what I and this project needed at the time. To be made calm. We walked along the Oconee River for inspiration some days, sat under a huge, wonderful oak tree to write while the horses milled about.”
After years of writing for other artists and performing in her hometown, Sye is ready to take the next steps. “I’ve been writing for other independent artists for the past six years and I love it,” she says. “Most of these are friends of mine from New York who are putting out amazing work. Other than that, Bloom is my first project that I will be taking on the road. I have some show dates coming up in Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Portland that I’m very excited about. I’m not signed to a label and though I do have a 9-5 to pay my bills, I’m in the place that I’ve always wanted to be artistically, and the fact that I’m able to share it with others, I am truly living out my dream in this moment.” - Pigeons and Planes
Atlanta songstress Sye Elaine Spence released and EP back in February that was the pure definition of beautiful soul music. Also known by the names We Are The Arrow, Sye Spence, and Elaine, Sye Elaine Spence’s Bloom EP is a breath of fresh air in the world of singers. The EP utilizes a plethora of soft instruments, from the banjo to its light-hearted drums featured on Spence’s cover of Bob Marley’s Is This Love, for example.
This project is perfect for the nice weather and Summertime season, evoking calmness, serenity, and pure bliss. Spence’s voice is that of a soothing one, a peaceful one, perfect for presenting the music she brings. The EP is available now, on iTunes and other outlets. - The Source
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
Sye Elaine Spence is a singer/songwriter from New York City, currently residing in Atlanta, GA. As a songwriter, she has collaborated with various artists in the New York City indie music scene since 2008. She also records and performs as a solo artist. Her latest release is a warm, folk-inflected EP entitled Bloom.
Delving first into poetry as a child, Spence married her fascination with words and melodies at the age of eight after receiving her first piano, a gift from her mother. She studied the voices of Nancy Wilson, Mahalia Jackson, Billie Holiday and Nina Simone that her grandmother played on 45s.
In 2008, she began collaborating with artists and producers in New York City in efforts to begin a career as a professional songwriter. In doing so, her interest in becoming an artist was heightened. After digitally releasing a bevy of songs between 2010 and 2012, ranging from pop-rock to soul; gigging between New York and Atlanta, Spence took a brief step away from music at the end of 2012. "I felt like a hamster in a spinning wheel. I was writing songs, releasing them, making some small buzz and gigging but there was no true fulfillment or purpose behind it. I needed to step back to remember what it is that I was searching for. I needed to feel eight years old again".
This break, which permeated personal realms, resulted in a move just outside of Atlanta, Georgia and a chance meeting with folk multi-instrumentalist, Michael Lesousky. It is with Lesousky, that Spence returned to her roots as a writer and a poet. Collaborating for months, choosing scenic and serene locations to create, the two stumbled upon a simple quiet sound that supported Spence's simile laden lyrics and hushed vocals. Of the 10 songs written by the pair in Spring 2013, four were brought to a quaint pond house in Athens, Georgia to be recorded.
The four-track set, Bloom, begins with its title track, featuring a softly-plucked banjo as the sole accompaniment. This instrumental arrangement is constant throughout the EP, continuing into Spence's cover of Bob Marley's 'Is This Love', which recalls the similar GRAMMY-winning 2011 version released on Corinne Bailey Rae's The Love EP. With a delivery that regularly hangs behind the beat, Spence's take on the classic comes across as relaxed and romantic. In contrast, third track 'You' feels more urgent, with the repeated line "I just wanna love you" growing in volume along with the eighth-note banjo countermelody as the song climaxes.
In addition to the lovestruck feel that the EP embodies, Bloom evokes the sound of summertime, with light instrumentation and twee arrangements. While earlier tracks include references to fireflies and shorelines, closing track 'Long Live The Summertime' is the most obvious contributor to the idea. Its lyrics are full to the brim with summery references, including barbecue, sweet tea, and ice cream; as the song closes, a flock of birds tweet as they fly into the distance.
As evidenced in Bloom, and surely works to come, Spence is a storyteller, with every pluck of the acoustic accompaniment, a truthful narrative of love and pain exposed.
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