Anna Coogan: Press

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There's something about Anna Coogan's simple and understated delivery that I relish, kind of ironically since it usually takes something a little more distinctive for me to be drawn to a singer songwriter. Written over the course of a couple of winters, in the dark of early mornings, The Nocturnal Among Us wears these circumstances well. Fans of Dawn Landes might enjoy this one. Start with "Crooked Sea" or "So Long Summertime."

Anna Coogan - The Nocturnal Among Us
2010, Anna Coogan

Seattle’s Anna Coogan has one of those voices that haunt you. There's a lonesome quality there that is entirely compelling, and Coogan know how to place her voice to fullest effect in arrangements that both frame and feature it in the best light. The Seattle singer/songwriter has been delighting audiences since she first started writing in 2002, and has released two albums to date that have won critical praise. On March 2, 2010, Coogan steps fourth with her third album, The Nocturnal Among Us. Written in the depths of two Seattle winters, Coogan waxes poetic on the sort of growing up we start to do once we think we've grown up. Getting married, becoming a responsible adult and the perspective of mortality all come into play. Produced by JD Foster (Calexico, Dwight Yoakam, Patty Griffin, Laura Cantrell), The Nocturnal Among Us is Coogan's best work yet, and will serve to cement her reputation as both a songwriter and performer.

Coogan starts off on the right foot with Back To The World, wrapped in a simplistic arrangement that allow the melody and ambience of the song to pour out in buckets. On Dreaming My Life Away, Coogan sounds like a classic Country crooner working a rock song steeped in melancholy. The vocal harmonies around Coogan are amazing, helping her to commemorate the sort of existential crisis that's a trademark of the human condition.

Coogan documents the cycle of a relationship from happiness to heartache on Crooked Sea, a dreamer's tale of love gone wrong told from the worldly perspective of one who thought it might come out like this all along. It's an amazing piece of songwriting and performed right to the cusp of perfection. Escapism reigns on Take The Sky And Run, a possible epilogue to Crooked Sea that's sharp but perhaps one of the weaker songs on the album. Love Again is a song of renewal; finding the will to get past the pain and live again. It's tuneful and well-written and Coogan wears it like a glove.

The highlight of the album is Holy Ghosts Of Texas. I'm not even going to go to great lengths to describe the song, as I suspect it's more a matter of how the song touches you than anything else, but it's powerful songwriting and Coogan is at her vocal best here. The song itself is an instant classic; the sort that other artists are likely to find and cover over time. So Long Summertime finds Coogan entering the Folk/Pop mélange of Natalie Merchant. It's a great listen that's easy on the ears and will recall Merchant's early days with 10,000 Maniacs. Coins On Your Eyes is something of a morality tale about figuring out what's important in life before it's too late. The song is delivered in a loving tone to someone whom Coogan knows will likely never change, and has a dark beauty that's full of love, a need to do something and the knowledge that nothing will ever be enough. Coogan says goodnight with The Nocturnal Among Us, a sad, pretty closer that serves as a musical mood desert for what's come before.

Coogan floored me from the opening notes of The Nocturnal Among Us. Her voice is truly something special, and Coogan has a talent for phrasing that's somewhat rare in Pop music. Coogan also is able to write and perform music that sounds 100% authentic, honest and from the heart. If she chooses, Coogan's going to be making music the rest of her life. Talent like this screams to be used.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Anna Coogan at www.myspace.com/annacoogan. The Nocturnal Among Us drops March 2, 2010.

A refreshing Lilt

"So, a Vermont opera singer walks into a Seattle open mic and hooks up with a banjo picker.

No joke. Duo work ensues, and the pair decide they need a rhythm section. A chance meeting at the DMV and an answered ad on Craigslist later, and Anna Coogan and north19 are born.

Opera singer-turned-country-chanteuse Coogan is a 26 year old who is also closing in on a biology degree from the University of Washington. She's cashed in the dramatic formalities or classical music for the crying in your beer twang of country music, with amazing results.

"Sleepwalker", Coogan and companies second album, is a fresh take on heartfelt country; the twist rest with the heavy reliance on Travis Beard's banjo. The music is simple story telling with a delicate unerlayment of bass, drums, and Coogan's guitar and emotive vocals.

Her voice swoops and soars as she wraps herself around each lyric. She wrote or co-wrote all by one song on the projects 11 cuts, and displays solid knowledge of the country form. Each melody is laced with dug-down deep poetry. In "Wish You Well", she writes: "The radio is singing, like some long forgotten lover/All the broken hearted country songs."

Beards banjo lays the right amount of pluck, but he adds a delicious layer of tone to every cut. He shines on the instrumental "Wish You Well (Reprise)", walking an engaging line between joy and melancholy with deft finger rolls and supple melody.

The rhythm section of Kevin Burkett on electric bass and Eric Hastings on drums gives a rock edge, without being overbearing. The album is ably augmented with dobro and lap steel performances by Mike Grigoni, Joe Doria on Hammond organ,fiddle players Jeremy Brown and Lauryn Shapter, and pianist George Hazelrigg. Were music business economics different, the quartet would likely tour with supportive players such as these.

Coogan and North19 is modern country, without the modern country implications of slick productions, over the top anthem, and affected southern accents. There is a lilt to north19's music, like that little breeze in summer that takes an edge off the swelter or that cool corner of the other side of the pillow.

From Opera to Alt-country

Even through a well-controlled whisper, Anna Coogan's speaking voice bears few traces of the highly trained opera singer turned alt-country-band-leader. Her decade of opera training ended when she left the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria- the classical music equivalent of Barbies Dream House--to return to Seattle five years ago when, lacking a familiar musical outlet, Coogan took to writing folk songs and performing them at open mic nights.

"When I set off to start a band" she says "I wanted a traditional bluegrass band. What ended up was something totally different, a hybrid. " The result was north19-- including highly regarded local banjo player Travis Beard, whose roots in the Puget Sound Americana scene ran deep, and bassist and St. Louis native Kevin Burkett, whose tastes and influences tilt towards 60's pop and acoustic rock music-- and their new album, "Sleepwalker".

Building a fusion of Coogan's classical upbringing, Beard's folk roots, and Burkett's rock influence wasn't easy, and the trio turned to Craigslist for a drummer. "Eric Hastings is amazing" she says "Still, he's the best thing I've ever found on craigslist."

With Hastings in tow, the group hit local acoustic venues, from the Tractor Tavern to Folklife and other area festivals.

Coogan's voice-well honed, sharpened tool that it is-slaloms between cues from Rosanne Cash and Alison Krauss, taking fuel from the formers grit and the latter's sweet soul.With haunting songwriting, ably backed by three impeccable players, north19 rises above the throng of local folksingers in Seattle's burgeoning alt-country scene.

Coogan is quick to admit that she and north19 don't represent the scene. "But I definitely feel like a part of it" she whispers. "Theres really a huge audience for roots music in the Pacific Northwest." It's not surprising that she feels this way. After all, Coogan crossed continents before finding her own voice and three musical soul mates who were waiting for her back where she began.

"Coogan's voice brings to mind the sweet but striking approach of Kelly Willis and Iris Dement."-

Local Throats

"Listening solely to her voice, you may doubt Coogan's country credentials. Unlike many of her peers, she doesn't survive on grit and vinegar. She's a classically trained opera singer, and when fronting her band, North19, hrt voice slides from note to note without ever slipping.

Coogan's style fit's nicely with the new wave of singer/songwriters that blend traditional influences with modern. (Think Shelley Campbell or Tift Merritt). Her debut, "Glory" (Tarnished) incorporates liberal banjo and slide guitar, and the songs roll along with the gentle shifts of a horses walk."

Anna Coogan and north19

What do Led Zeppelin and north19 have in common? Both bands lead singers have recently gone country. Four years ago Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant was a rock star and north19 chanteuse Anna Coogan was an opera singer. Now they are both crooning alongside acoustic roots musicians- Plant is currently recording a duets album with Alison Krauss, and Coogan is boom-chucking her way through the country laced originals backed by banjo, dobro, and pedal steel accompaniments on Glory.

This release from Coogan and her Seattle-based band has the quiet, rainy day feeling of Ryan Adam's "Heartbreaker", but without the moody, brooding...dejection of Adam's opus. Coogan's songs deal eloquently with the wonderings and soggy wanderings that come with a young adulthood spent in the Pacific Northwest, but rather than dwelling in dreariness, Coogan embraces the silver lining offered by these clouds, ultimately making for hopeful songs. And as for delivery, granting Coogan's voice plenty of space to narrate without straining.

"Based on her powerful pipes and the catch in her throat, she could just as easily pass for a native of Nashville..."

"Sweet and clear voiced with a stunning range, Coogan sweeps through the dusty romanticism of her songs, using a variety of folk genres to clear a path"

"Coogan lets loose a paralyzing and smooth voice. Her range is unmatched and her songs are sweet natured illusions of loneliness, redemption and romanticism of old fashioned Americana."

Her name is Anna Coogan, and she piles on sugar whenever she opens her mouth and sings. Hers is a honey-butter voice, touched by twang, drenched in sunshine. She could sing the Missoulians legal notices and still captivate your ear. But instead she opts for the considerably more melodious material of her band, north19. That's a good thing.

"Anna Coogan has a lovely voice with some affecting breaks that she uses to wring plenty of emotion out of the bands well-crafted songs."

"Coogan's folk-country vocals a la Emmy Lou have a lot of charm"

"Coogan sings exactly what needs to be sung, exactly why it needs to be sung, and she can do everything that needs to be done. Every note is heart wrenching."

"Anna has one of those wonderful voices that can sing in several styles and convince you that she was born to do it. The songs are solid and the musicianship is first rate... One of the freshest things in a while for sure."