Tara Jane ONeil is about to release A Ways Away, her fifth solo album over all, and the first for K. It's been a long time since ONeil (or O'Neil) played in Rodan, Retsin, the Sonora Pine, or starred in Half-Cocked, but the foundation she and her then-Louisville (and then New York, etc.) cohorts laid down in the early and mid '90s and onward can't be overlooked, even as gutsy labels fold and too many groups decide it's more than enough to wear faux warpaint, but not actually get their hands dirty. ONeil's sound is different now, calmer and not like the take-no-prisoners math of her early days. It has been for a while, but you still get a confident sense of history in her intonations. The album includes guest spots from Jana Hunter, Mirah, Osa Atoe (New Bloods), Geoff Soule (Fuck), Jean Cook and Daniel Littleton (Ida) and the Ecstatic Tambourine Orchestra, but here you mostly just hear the woman herself:
Tara Jane ONeil - "Drowning" (MP3)
Flashback. A Ways Away is out 5/5 via K. She's on tour before that. In fact, if you're in the NYC area, you can catch her at an intimate show at Cinders tonight:
02/26 - Brooklyn, NY @ Cinders Gallery *
02/27 - Annondale-on-Hudson, NY @ Bard College *
02/28 - Brooklyn, NY @ Market Hotel (Benefit for Arthur Magazine) *
03/01 - Baltimore, MD @ Zodiac *
03/18 - 21 - Austin, TX @ SXSW
04/01 - Anacortes, WA @ The Department of Safety #
04/03 - Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret #
04/04 - Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater #
04/05 - Arcata, CA @ TBA #
04/30 - Portland, OR @ Fontanelle Gallery
* = w/ Jana Hunter
# = w/ Mirah
[Photo by Sarah Cass]
