100 Bands in 100 Days Presented by Verity Credit Union — Day 56: Bright Raven

Please check out Verity Credit Union, our great partner in the 100 Bands in 100 Days local music showcase.

Artwork by Seattle-area painter E.R. Saba

Music fans of the Pacific Northwest, get ready for our sixth annual year-end daily local music showcase, 100 Bands in 100 Days, where every day until December 31st, we’ll be showcasing a new band or artist you have to know about. For the fourth year in a row, the showcase is once again presented by Verity Credit Union.

Make sure you are checking the #100Bands100Days hashtag on Twitter on a daily basis to stay on top of all the bands featured and be sure to follow Verity and NW_Music_Scene on there. Some days the featured act could be an established and locally-adored northwest-based musician and other times they could be a band with a small following that just hasn’t had their deserved time in the spotlight yet. Either way, we’re fairly confident you can come away from this daily segment with plenty of new favorites. Bright Raven is the featured act for today.


About the band: 

Back in August we reviewed a beautiful album called Go from an artist called Bright Raven and we instantly fell in love with Inés Beltranena’s dynamic vocal range.  The album got a lot of spins from us and once you listen below, you’ll know why.

Here’s a little of what we had to say in our review:

A cascading roll of piano keys, gentle thump of drum, and chorale reverberations blanket the spinning noise opening “Go”. Coating every word and fingering of guitar, Beltranena circumnavigates her ship over choppy waves of nostalgia and youthful visions. Around three minutes in, she elevates her voice into Joni Mitchell’s “River” territory. Follow up “Shoes” steps into a melodic dreamscape with drummer Mark Powers’ rim shots beaching the fluttering, otherworldly vocals and sophisticated guitar. Dually grand are Beltranena’s charged words and impeccable song-smithing. Her falsetto is tear inducing and goose bump activating. Feist would pay copious amounts of cash to have the rights to this one. 

“Mother, Love Me” elevates into a swinging lullaby and demand for acceptance. Joined by Gemma Cohen on vocals, Beltranena’s voice is truly in a special class (see Mimi Parker of Low and The Innocence Mission’s Karen Peris). Layered in thick sonic cloth, “The Oldest Oak” showcases Beltranena’s vocal and guitar tandem. Impressively haunting and pacifying, Beltranena operates seamlessly as a raven, surveying past memories and retrieving wisdom from nature’s endless bounty. Thus, intimacy is unearthed in the ordinary, offering a lasting protection as she moves forward.


 


 

Listen:


Find the band at:

Facebook

Soundcloud


Submissions for 100 Bands in 100 Days are now closed.


A huge shoutout to Verity Credit Union for doing so much for the music community and for being such a great partner. 


As an added bonus this year, House Of Cannabis will be playing the featured bands in each of their three Washington locations.

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