Alex Hart - RISING STAR ALEX HART TO RELEASE DEBUT ALBUM ON THIS DAY
ALEX HART
‘ON THIS DAY’
RELEASE DATE: 1st December 2014
LABEL: RIGHT TRACK RECORDS/UNIVERSAL
FORMAT: 1CD & DOWNLOAD
CAT # RTRCD54
“This young singer-songwriter from Devon looks set to make a global impact with her distinctive voice and classy commercial brand of modern day country music.” – Maverick magazine.
‘On This Day’ is the debut album from country-pop artist Alex Hart, released on Right Track Records/Universal on 1st December 2014.
Describing her sound as “West Country Country”, 23-year old Alex signed to Right Track Records/Universal in the UK after the label caught her opening for Turin Brakes. Her debut single ‘One This Day’ instantly picked-up airplay from BBC Radio 2 and respected country music magazine Maverick described her songs as “pretty special stuff and ripe for mainstream crossover success.” OK! Good Records agreed, signing Alex for the US.
Growing up in the same tiny Devon village as Joss Stone, inspired by the pure vocal style of Doris Day and driven to pick up the guitar after watching KT Tunstall perform, Alex Hart has been busy performing live across the West Country with her Taylor guitar and rhythm stomp box since she was just 14 years old. Supported by John Govier and James Santer for BBC Introducing, Alex is a regular live performer on BBC Radio Devon.
After winning a West Country radio talent contest to win a recording session when Alex was 15-years old, she met singer-songwriter Barney Dine. The pair become writing partners and began work on the songs that would eventually become ‘One This Day’.
After a few years of honing her writing and performance skills Alex sent a demo of the album’s opener ‘Run’ to respected producer/musician Neil Stainton. Neil heard something special in Alex’s voice and, suitably impressed, invited Alex to Fisher Lane Studios in Surrey to start recording the album and help secure her a record deal.
The finished result is an assured debut album from Alex Hart, reveling in the time honoured tradition of tales of youthful passion, broken hearts and new beginnings. In a nod towards one of Alex’s heroes, the album also includes an interpretation of the Doris Day hit ‘Everybody Loves A Lover’.
The release of ‘One This Day’ will be preceded by the single ‘Run’, out on November 2nd 2014.
Alex Hart’s track-by-track guide to &lsquos;On This Day’
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‘Run’ – I Spring 2011 I called Barney Dine when I had been feeling down about not playing enough and losing my way a bit. He told me to come over to his then studio in Stoke Gabriel so we could write something. ‘Run’ was born, and it was also the song that we sent to Neil Stainton that got his attention.
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‘Bonita’ – This is about an ex-boyfriend. I told Barney what was going on at the time and we wrote this together. The ‘escape to California’ was a way of trying to cheer me up. The south west is the California of the UK – but sometimes it doesn’t seem like that!
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‘Bad Boy Bill’- Bad Boy Bill is a fictional character, although there are many people like him – outsiders who pass under the radar, all with their own story. Brixham is a romantic looking seaside harbour town, it’s got a real atmosphere, especially visually, so we wanted to write a song with Devon roots and include a pre-Christmas death!! I spent a lot of last year in Fishcombe Cove. You can only get there by swimming. It’s a magical but lonely place.
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‘Keep Britain Tidy’ - This is an old song of Barney’s that we re-wrote with Neil Stainton. Barney wrote the song after his car broke down in very neat suburbia and nobody offered to help.
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‘Everybody Loves A Lover’ - This is a cover of a song that was a hit for Doris Day. I had been introduced to her music and films at school and just fell in love with her. Her version of this song is in a major key, we switched it to minor and added the ska feel. When we were recording it we called it “‘50’s Polish Reggae”. I think this song is about the madness of love.
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‘Tried Too Much’ - I wrote this a couple of years ago in the middle of a break-up with my significant ex. I love the lilting feel of the rhythm and the two part harmony lead vocal.
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‘I See You’ - I wrote this with Barney and Neil at Stoke Gabriel on a wickedly hot day in spring 2012. At the time, another Devon singer songwriter was doing well in the TV show The Voice. A friend of Neil’s was also involved in the show. This song is a little peek into the world of TV singing competitions, and the verses are meant to be the judge’s sarcastic comments.
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‘Onside’ - Barney wrote this song a while back and then we resurrected it for this project. I feel like I was made to sing this song. We recorded my Mum’s old mandolin on this, but have no idea how we managed it as the thing was falling apart.
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‘Green Light’ - Inspired by driving back from a gig when I had had an argument and couldn’t decide where to drive to. It became a song about your direction in life and doing things for yourself.
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‘Have A Nice Life’ - This is basically the story of a two timing bastard – my ex (again!)! When I told Neil the story he thought it would make an excellent C&W song. He kept nagging me to write it but the story was too raw and close to me. So Neil wrote it himself. It’s great fun to sing and all true.
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‘Orange Van’ – This is one of my favourite songs that Barney wrote. It can be interpreted in lots of ways but, to me, it’s a sad/happy song about the beginning of one thing and the loss of another; a great memory or love past. In the studio we called this ‘country dub’, as it has got a cool reggae vibe underneath it. The Rhodes riff gets under your skin. The whole thing reminds me of English summers and, of course, orange vans.
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‘Falling Down’ - This song was transformed in the studio – it had been faster and much more obviously country, but then Neil started to play the new chord progression on the piano. I think I may have had a few Cuba Libras (the drink of the sessions) and loved it. Neil wanted it to sound as though it was the last song of the night in a village hall after a crazy dance, with debris everywhere. I think we achieved that…an appropriate wind down.
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‘I Was Only 17’ - This song speaks for itself lyrically, but sound-wise it’s a combination of hip-hop and country…it’s definitely West Country Country.
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‘Taxi With You’ - This is a song from the seventies that Neil had been meaning to record for all that time. I like its tongue-in-cheek suggestiveness. Very ‘70s!
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‘The Ultra Violet Code’ - It’s a bit abstract but this song is about one of those devices they use in shops to see if your money is fake, where they shine the light on the note. This song imagines if you had your own ultraviolet code machine that made sure the way money came to you was always ‘clean’. Like I said, abstract.
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