Gregory
& The Hawk Moenie and Kitchi [album]
Ghost
[single]
“To
listen to Gregory & The Hawk’s
Moenie And Kitchi album is to
experience the delightful and emotive
vocals of Meredith Godreau with her
Folk-esque creations...”
MEREDITH GODREAU SINGS and her clear vocals fill the room with beautiful
sounds. Compelling and affecting, her voice has the most beautiful timbre that
resonates gently and lingers in the air.
The captivating vocal talents of native New Yorker Meredith heads the project
Gregory & The Hawk — Meredith has been performing under that name to massive
D-I-Y success for five years. During that time, she's sold over 15,000 self-released
singles and brought a groundswell of support on the internet that has resulted
in over seventeen pages of fans covering her songs on YouTube.
Not only is this a staggering accomplishment for an artiste without a label,
manager or booking agent, but she also receives around sixty fan letters a week
— half of them from the UK.
One evening, at Brooklyn's Southpaw, Meredith was performing to a mesmerised
audience — including FatCat, who had come across her quite by chance. A
month later she was in the studio, working on what would become Moenie And
Kitchi, her first album for the label.
Meredith's voice is superb. It is sweet and clear as she reaches out to each
note with the most subtle of touches. She is a delight to listen to — Gregory
& The Hawk's album Moenie And Kitchi is a magnificent blend of New Age/Folk/Pop
that cannot fail to please.
Meredith conceived the name Gregory & The Hawk in 2003, initially to prevent
her from being perceived of or pigeonholed as a female singer-songwriter (although,
we are told, perhaps ironically, when pressed for a list of influences she cites
Nick Drake, Liz Phair and PJ Harvey).
After playing alone for a few years, she met Mike McGuire in New York in 2005
and the two played live shows together for several months before teaming up
with bassist Jeff Ratner and drummer Adam Christgau (both of New York band Paper
And Sand). The four of them recorded a self-released EP, Boats And Birds,
in 2006.
Not long afterwards, the four friends moved apart. Meredith began playing live
on acoustic guitar and vocals with just Jeff on upright bass. She was playing
shows to support the self-released debut album In Your Dreams in 2007,
which she made in conjunction with Mike McGuire and Susan Ambrose.
Recording Moenie And Kitchi was rather different. While Mike, Susan and
various others contributed to it, many of the instruments were played by the
album's producer, Adam Pierce (Mice Parade) with the majority of vocals and
guitars recorded simultaneously in one take.
The result, says the publicity machine, was an album that is both gentle and
quietly fierce, often in the same song, from the rolling, shuffling drums at
the opening of the beautifully melodic and poignant Oats We Sow; through
the dramatic ebbs and surges of Wild West and the propulsive brass/electric
guitars that mark the remarkable, very moving Ghost — the whole
affair held together by Godreau's silken, expressive tones. Idiosyncratic and
hook-filled, the album heralds the arrival of a genuine and irresistible talent.
Gregory & The Hawk's Moenie And Kitchi is a wonderful collection of songs
and the single release from the album, Ghost, is much more than just
a very moving pop song with its alluring beat that changes as Meredith sings
a cappella before the music rushes back as if to draw a line under the
track.
August Moon is a very evocative track with a fantastic opening that lives
up to its promise, with terrific guitar work enhancing the challenging vocals
as Meredith rises to the occasion. Super Legend is another creditable
track in the same vein and feel of the album.
• Gregory & The Hawk's album Moenie And
Kitchi is due to be released on 13 October (2008). The single from the album,
Ghost, is due to be released on 29 September (2008).
Tracklisting
1 Oats We Sow | 2 August Moon | 3 Doubtful | 4 Grey
Weather | 5 Voice Like A Bell | 6 Wild West | 7 Stone Wall,
Stone Fence | 8 Ghost | 9 Super Legend | 10 Harmless
| 11 Two-Faced Twin
Moenie And Kitchi: "Meredith's voice is superb. It is sweet and
clear as she reaches out to each note with the most subtle of touches. She is
a delight to listen to — Gregory & The Hawk's album Moenie And Kitchi
is a magnificent blend of New Age/Folk/Pop that cannot fail to please" —
MotorBar
Ghost: "Gregory & The Hawk's single release Ghost is much
more than just a very moving pop song, with its alluring beat that changes as
Meredith sings a cappella before the music rushes back as if to draw
a line under the track" — MotorBar
Check out myspace.com/gregoryandthehawk
and fat-cat.co.uk.
