Dawn Landes 'Fireproof' album

Drawing on the Fast Folk heritage of Greenwich Village, the indie-pop leanings of her occasional partners Hem and The Earlies, and the studio wizardry she picked-up as a recording engineer, Dawn Landes has carved herself a niche on the local NYC indie folk scene and throughout Europe. Dawn’s second album and first US release, Fireproof, is an astonishing mixture of the urban and the rural. Fireproof is like a little kitchen garden planted between high-rise buildings; in it’s own way, a remarkable act of resistance.

As a child living in Louisville, Kentucky, Dawn Landes learned, and then quickly abandoned, the piano (“with three teachers all called Beverly”). Though intrigued by her parents' hodge-podge record collection ranging from the Pointer Sisters to the Traveling Wilburys, Dawn, the youngster and of the curious sort, was more interested in experimenting with sounds than taking piano lessons. “The first cassette I recorded in high school included a track made up from the sounds of crickets, running water and the word ‘glory’ sung in a million different ways,” explains Dawn of her early musical experiences.

As a lyricist, however, Dawn Landes’ early influences were more clearly traditional and literary. Her first song was an adaptation of a poem by Edna St Vincent Millay set to music.

After high school, the she left her native Kentucky for the Big Apple and, more precisely, university there (NYU). Her first steps on the local folk scene inevitably brought her face-to-face with the anti-folk tribe (Moldy Peaches, Regina Specktor, Jeffrey Lewis…), then in full swing.

“When I arrived in New York, I naturally ended up at the ‘open mike’ evenings at the Sidewalk Café. I loved the energy of the place, the street poets, the outsider-artistry, the green hair, but I ended up spending more time with the Fast Folk community," she explains. Fast Folk brings together songwriter heirs of Dylan and pioneers of Greenwich Village. People like Townes Van Zandt, Dave Van Ronk and Suzanne Vega were all part of the community at one time or another. Though Dawn was by far the youngest, (most of them were in their forties or fifties while Dawn was just turning twenty) it suited Dawn better.

It was in New York City that Dawn’s musical “experiments” would find a professional home. Between open mics and work shifts at the Non-Imperialist Bookstore, Dawn began work as a studio engineer alongside artists such as Ryan Adams, Philip Glass, HEM and Joseph Arthur. The studio became Dawn’s great musical playground with a whole new set of “toys” to play with. Now a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer and engineer, Dawn found inspiration in the studio after hours following the night’s recording sessions, while working on her own material. It never crossed Dawn’s mind that, in more times than not, she was the only woman in the room.

Soon enough, Dawn found herself on the road and across Europe, first with Suzanne Vega and then with the band HEM taking on the new role of Glockenspeil/Background Vocalist. It was in France that Dawn landed her first record deal with a little label out of the South of France, Ocean Records.

It would seem that the sparkle dust had gently landed on Dawn Landes. However, not all would magically fall into place so quickly.

First she would be dealt a harsh smack of reality, which would be the impetus for one of her most poptastic folk tunes on her newest album, Fireproof.

“Bodyguard” the first and perhaps most infectious number on the Fireproof album, was written following the break in and burglary of Dawn’s Brooklyn apartment. She didn’t have much, just a Casio keyboard, a laptop computer and a hard drive….with her complete second album ready for production. Album two and years of Dawn Landes creative work, gone forever.

Devastated (Dawn’s roommate packed up what was left of her belongings and left New York City), out came the first song penned for album number three, “Bodyguard”. “Recovering from the robbery was tough. We were poor. We couldn’t afford to buy new computers. I never looked back or tried to recreate those songs, never played them, nothing. I just started over from scratch. I wrote ‘Bodyguard’ in the kitchen while waiting for the police to show up,” reminisces Dawn.

The rest of the Fireproof album stands up alongside “Bodyguard,” a perfect blend of the heartland of America in the midst of the sparkle, razzle and hum of city life.

“I think albums are always marked by the places where they were conceived or written. New York was bound to color many of the sounds I recorded for Fireproof," explains Dawn. But at the heart of these songs, there's still that girl playing the guitar in a cornfield in the Midwest. The only difference is that the corn has been replaced by high-rise buildings.”

This astonishing notion of a sort of urban country is particularly palpable on the superb ballads “Twilight” or “Tired Of This Life”, songs which Clem Snide certainly wouldn't have been ashamed of. As for her rather unexpected hidden track cover of “I Won’t Back Down,” the old hit of respected icon Tom Petty, the singer confesses, “I love that song. It breaks my heart every time I sing it. It has a profound sadness running through it which isn't all that obvious the first time you hear it.”

However, all is not lost to heartbreak and minor keys. “Picture Show” and “Kids In a Play” are proof positive that New York’s indie pop influence is alive and well on Fireproof.

The aptly named Fireproof album was recorded live to 2” tape in a single day in an old fire station in Red Hook, Brooklyn (along with drummer Ray Rizzo, bassist Jonny Flaugher and engineer Adam Lasus). With the basic tracks laid down, Dawn spent the next week camped out alone in the studio adding the finishing touches to the album, inviting friends to come and play, tweaking knobs and mixing in the requisite bells and whistles, including some homemade loops along with archival samples of broken equipment recorded on mini disk.

Dawn continues her work now while living in Paris and touring Europe. Collaborating, recording and performing alongside some of Frances’ rising stars and even a few Brooklyn ex-pats like Jason Glasser, cellist player and producer of Clem Snide. She is even starting to pen a few tunes in French.

On tour, Dawn Landes has also reached a broader public by playing recent tours with Josh Ritter, Tom Mcrae, Midlake, Fionn Regan and Joan as Police Woman.

Fireproof, Dawn Landes’ debut US album is set for a March 2008 release on the Cooking Vinyl Label.

tour dates
Feb 6 -Varsity Theater - Minneapolis, MN
Feb 7 - High Noon Saloon - Madison, WI
Feb 8 - Double Door - Chicago, IL
Feb 9 - Music Mill - Indianapolis, IN
Feb 11 - Southgate House - Cincinnati, OH
Feb 12 - The Basement - Columbus, OH
Feb 14 - Magic Stick - Detroit, MI
Feb 15 - Beachland Ballroom - Cleveland, OH
Feb 16 - Tralf Music Hall - Buffalo, NY
Feb-17 - PA World Café Live - Philadelphia, PA
Feb 19 - Toad's - New Haven, CT
Feb 20 - Paradise - Boston, MA
Feb 21 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
Feb 22 - 9:30 Club - Washington DC
Feb 23 - Satellite Ballroom - Charlottesville, VA
Feb 24 - Soapbox - Wilmington, NC
Feb 26 - Headliner's - Columbia, SC
Feb 27 - GA Theatre - Athens, GA
Feb 28 - Bluecat's - Knoxville, TN
Feb 29 - Headliner's - Louisville, KY
Mar 1 - Cannery Ballroom - Nashville, TN

press quotes
"A perpetual motion machine of delicate micro percussion." -- NME

"Vivid girl next- door indie pop in the spirit of Frente and Cat Power." -- The Guardian

"Brooding bluestronica from the one-to-watch Kentuckian." -- Sunday Times (London)

"What a gem this is... odd dream-like songs, thumb piano and gorgeous boho-folk." (Fireproof was the UNCUT Album of the month for January '08) -- Uncut Magazine

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Dawn Landes - Fireproof