Anne Heaton's debut studio album Black Notebook is "Sweetly nostalgic without being overly sentimental and powerful without being melodramatic” (decontrol.com), Heaton's songs are catchy, with soaring melodies boasting great emotional pull and smart lyrics.
Performing Songwriter Magazine, which chose Black Notebook as one of its Top 12 Independent Releases, describes Heaton’s music as “alternately lush, sweet, funny and sorrowful. At times, Heaton almost sounds like Macy Gray. She switches from Midwestern high school girl for “Megan & Kevin” to Tori Amos intensity for “I Want to Fly.”
Her musical influences are varied: Peter Gabriel, Indigo Girls, Sinead O'Connor, 10,000 Maniacs, and the Rolling Stones to name only a few. Heaton “plays her piano and sings her open-hearted platitudes like a stream in spring thaw, crisp and overflowing” (The Chicago Reader). With her richly textured voice, Heaton has been described as having "an uncanny ability to succinctly and unpretentiously say what she has to say" (Cincinnati CityBeat).
For Heaton, the songwriting process can be a cathartic experience. “Sometimes I’ll be struggling with something and through writing lyrics it’s like conflict resolution,” she said. “I am sort of obsessed with paradoxes and I work it out by writing. The song ‘Take Your Desire,’ is exploring the paradox between jealousy, freedom and desire. “I like to write songs to help me look at things in the world in a new way and maybe I can communicate that to other people, but I would hope that people just enjoy the songs for the sound of them. If you want to get a deeper meaning, great, but I hope it is fun just to listen to."
anneheaton.com
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