EVA ABRAHAM – BIOGRAPHY
January 27th, 2006 by rui
"I want my music to be inspiring, moving, beautiful, melodic, harmonious, far reaching, explorative, to constantly shift and evolve as I constantly shift and evolve, to be around a long time."
Eva was born in north London to Hungarian and Polish parents and through her childhood was immersed in the sounds of classical and Hungarian gypsy folk music. Also on the family stereo was a mix of American country music, Simon & Garfunkel, Nancy & Lee, The Beach Boys and Barbara Streisand. Through a childhood friend she was also exposed to a heavy dose of reggae and lovers rock. Later Eva’s love of Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder and Gil Scott-Heron, combined with other musical influences including Kristen Hersch, Nina Simone, Gillian Welch, Etta James, Neil Young, Zero 7, Jeff Buckley, Paul Weller and the Big Chill’s many compilation albums, helped forge the sound she has created for her own music.
After purchasing her first acoustic guitar, Eva immediately began to pen her first songs and was later introduced to open mic nights at the world famous Troubadour on the Old Brompton Road where she regularly performed, tuning her songs and her craft. A series of London and festival gigs with her band ‘Evalution’ led to a deal with hip independent label City Rockers. This provided an opportunity to record a collection of songs which would become the original version of her debut solo album.
As sometimes happens in the music business, the label’s backers pulled their support, but luckily Eva walked away owning her own music. Picked up by Big Chill Recordings, songs were reworked, stripped back and polished, resulting in the spellbinding, critically acclaimed ‘Shadow Gazing’.
With strings by Andy Nice and Andy Waterworth from ‘Instrumental’, drums by Crispin Taylor from Zero 7 and production by Niven Garland (Portishead), the album has been likened to artists such as Beth Gibbons, Joni Mitchell, PJ Harvey, Beth Orton and Eva Cassidy. "I think I’m in good company then’ says Eva who describes herself as ‘a passionate, warm, creative clown who writes from the heart’. She says of her debut ‘If we look a bit deeper we might see that something positive can come out of strange, perhaps sad situations, and we can glow’.
With jaw-dropping live sets at The Big Chill Festivals 2004 (when the crowd refused to let her leave the stage without playing an encore – unheard of at the tightly programmed festival) & 2005 (where the Financial Times’ reporter described her as a personal highlight), and with material in place for at least another two albums, the future glows for Eva Abraham.
Discography – Releases
Shadow Gazing (Big Chill Recordings)
Discography – Compilations
Glowing Yellow (Renaissance Anthems 2002 – Renaissance)
Glowing Yellow Singles 1-23 – City Rockers)
Today And Everyday (04 Taster – Big Chill Recordings)
Gigography
The Big Chill Festival, The Spitz, Cargo, 12 Bar, Mean Fiddler Acoustic Room, Jazz Café, Ronnie Scotts, Dingwalls, Glastonbury Festival, Phoenix festival, Cambridge Folk Festival
Currently available from Big Chill Recordings
Eva Abraham – Shadow Gazing
Today and Every Day
So Fine
Glowing Yellow
Review | Buy it!
