Biography
Though it?s true that little details make up the whole picture, it?s the whole picture that has the power to affect you, floor you with the mood it creates. The details of Jen Gloeckner?s debut CD Miles Away - soothing rhythms, layers of meaning, and guitar and vocals that blend while letting the power of each show through?combine seamlessly to have one single effect: Spellbinding.Miles Away is spellbinding and enchanting, but it?s no "relaxation" CD. You?ll be lured into a world that?s more twisted and mysterious than calm and relaxing--more Neverwhere (Neil Gaiman) than Neverland. There?s no happy ending here - but there is hope. Miles Away will draw you in, with songs like "Nothing Personal" and "Only 1" to a place where dreams go wrong and good intentions go awry. But it will pull you back, with songs like "Remember When" by visiting those moments of enlightenment and epiphany that pierce through times of darkness and allow us to feel connected, vibrant, and alive. Because Jen grew up in a small, Midwestern town in the United States, citizens of more musician-friendly cities may wonder where she finds the inspiration to write such diverse and original material. Jen spoke of the sources of her inspiration in a recent interview, saying, "When I write, I am really not aware of my surroundings at all, either inside the studio, or outside the house. I do not find that my music really has any geographical boundaries at all." She adds, "I really cannot put my finger on it, but when I write, the visions I see and try to interpret are very similar to what one may experience in their dream state. I have also had collaborations with musicians in my dreams, which I have taken and finished writing in the conscious state. I often wonder if these other musicians are the various forms of myself." Jen recalls the incredibly haunting "Only 1" of being a song created from such inspiration. She recalls, "That was a song that came to me one night at about 2:00am. It just seemed to pour out of me, and within two hours the song was completely written and recorded." No wonder, then, that Jen?s music has such a dream-like quality. Hard-pressed to classify Jen?s music into a certain genre, reviewers are left searching for words to describe what they have heard. In a world dominated by many female artists whose vocal lines seem to never stop, Jen prefers not to have any one instrument, including her own voice, dominate. As one reviewer gracefully put it, "?she casts writerly ego aside in favour of minimal lyrics elaborated by spell-weaving sounds. ...she?s just different, dark, ethereal, funky, an alluring big-sky, small-room mystery."
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