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"Gripping." - The
New York Times
“She
was a willowy beauty with charming shyness and a slightly
tragic air.” So says Brett Milano, of
Juliana Hatfield in her starting-out days,
in his recent book The Sound Of
Our Town: A History Of
Boston
Rock+Roll.
Juliana Hatfield
— no less an intriguing, compelling character today — has
been working as a recording artist for twenty years. With
the release of How To Walk Away, her 10th solo
album, she again proves herself to be an uncompromising
artist with impeccable pop instincts, a disdain for
artifice, a completely original voice, and a contrarian
streak.
Starting in her teens, with her first band,
critically-acclaimed, Boston-based indie rock outfit the
Blake Babies (who self-released their first album before
moving on to the North Carolina-based independent Mammoth
Records),
Hatfield has paved her own unique way,
evolving with each subsequent record. She signed to Atlantic
Records as a solo artist and racked up a string of
mid-nineties modern-rock hits
(“My
Sister,” “Spin The Bottle,” “Universal Heartbeat”)
before leaving the label in 1998.
Hatfield was then the first signing to Zoe
Records, a Rounder Records imprint. Zoe’s fourth and final
Hatfield release was 2004’s In Exile Deo,
named one of that year’s 10 best albums by Jon Pareles in
The New York Times.
In 2005
Hatfield came full circle, back to full DIY
independence, starting her own label (Ye Olde Records) and
releasing the catchy but somewhat abrasive Made In China
(“her most urgent, refreshingly unpolished output in years,”
said Time Out New York).
How
To Walk Away,
also on Ye Olde Records,
finds
Hatfield singing in top form. “Finally,” she
says, “I feel like my voice has grown into itself and I’m
not struggling so much against its little-girl-ness.”
The
album features guest appearances by two other distinctive
vocalists: Psychedelic Furs’ Richard Butler on “This Lonely
Love” and Nada Surf’s Matthew Caws on “Such A Beautiful
Girl.” Other featured guest musicians were Fountains Of
Wayne guitarist Jody Porter (some lead guitar); Jeff Hill,
of Rufus Wainwright’s band, on bass; and Ethan Eubanks of
the Grey Race on drums. Tracy Bonham guested on violin, and
Jason Hatfield, Juliana’s brother, played piano on two
songs, which he co-wrote
(“Remember November” and
“Such A Beautiful Girl”).
How
To Walk Away
was recorded at Stratosphere Sound, the NYC
studio co-owned by Adam Schlesinger (Fountains Of Wayne),
James Iha (formerly of Smashing Pumpkins), and Andy Chase
(of revered alt-rock/pop band Ivy), who produced the album.
How To Walk Away is evocative, layered, and
unhurried yet Chase has managed to retain
Hatfield’s essential rawness of spirit,
smoothing out some rough edges but not all. Witness, for
example, the loose, danceable
“Now
I’m Gone,” sung (and played) by
Hatfield in one inspired improvisational
take. And while she has frequently drawn from personal
experience in the past, these songs are some of her most
candid ever. (more)
Track
listing:
1. The Fact Remains
2. Shining On
3. This Lonely Love
4. My Baby...
5. Just Lust
6. Now I'm Gone
7. Remember November
8. So Alone
9. Such A Beautiful Girl
10. Law of Nature
julianahatfield.com
Hear "Shining On" at
Juliana's
MySpace page
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