Posted on: August 30, 2011 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Nick Jaina has just released a new full-length, THE BEANSTALKS THAT HAVE BROUGHT US HERE ARE GONE (which features JOLIE HOLLAND, LAURA GIBSON, and more amazing women)–and now, we’ve got tour dates! The whole spiel is below, PLUS, one can get the scoop on the album via LISTENING TO THIS GREAT KZME PODCAST!

09.08.11 – Eugene, OR @ Sam Bonds
09.10.11 – Davis, CA @ Sophia’s
09.11.11 – San Francisco, CA @ KC Turner House Concert Series
09.11.11 – San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock Tavern
09.13.11 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Central
09.15.11 – Santa Fe, NM @ Warehouse 21
09.16.11 – Denver, CO @ The Meadowlark
09.18.11 – Boise, ID @ Visual Arts Collective
09.19.11 – Seattle, WA @ Comet Tavern

Here’s the deal: The Beanstalks That Have Brought Us Here Are Gone is the new album from Nick Jaina, and an unusual one at that. I am beyond honored to be able to bring it your way (let me know if you’re interested in debuting the MP3 of Jolie Holland’s “You Were So Good To Me”, and we’ll work it out), as not only a giant fan of all Nick’s endeavors (which will be discussed shortly), but of the many incredible women who helped bring this thing to life. Nick wrote and recorded all new songs and asked different women to come in and sing the lead vocals. Nick’s voice doesn’t appear anywhere on the album, but his sensibilities are spread throughout. He was interested to work with women who had distinct voices, the same way a choreographer would use different dancers with their own signature styles to create a cohesive work of art. Nick is, I am wholly convinced, one of the most briliant and gifted storytellers and songwriters working today, and this record is an incredible example of a man bringing his work to fruition in a time-honored yet wholly innovative way. That’s Nick: at once a classic and a rare, crazy diamond (Nick is not crazy).

This album’s songs were written during the songwriting period for Jaina’s previous album, A Bird in the Opera House. Each song presented a different challenge. Sometimes Nick wrote a song for a singer who didn’t resonate with the song, and the piece had to be given to someone else. Sometimes keys had to be changed or lyrics altered, and in the case of “Once But Never Again” almost every single instrument from the original recording was replaced with something else to fit the new vocals. The result is an album that is as varied as a mix tape from someone in love with you, but as cohesive as a studio album.

MORE ABOUT NICK AND HIS OTHER PROJECTS:
Nick Jaina is signed to Hush Records (Decemberists, Loch Lomond) and has lived in Portland, Oregon for the last decade. He has just finished scoring a ballet in New York City for a project involving dancers from the New York City Ballet and singers from Julliard School of Music. That project, a trilogy called Satellites Become Us, charts the progress of a fracturing relationship from the earth into the heavens and is debuting on August 11th at the Dogwood Performing Arts Center in Fremont, MI, although a special NYC-area event will be planned as well (for more on that project, see this great article: http://wweek.com/portland/blog-20471-nick_jaina_writes_music_for_a_ballet.html). Nick is also an incredible writer and currently pens a beautiful column for the Willamette Week, which I highly recommend reading. Here’s one of my favorite pieces of his, about meeting an idol of his, Poppa Neutrino, and assisting said idol in setting out to a sea voyage from whence he would actually not return: http://www.wweek.com/portland/blog-26287-nick_jaina_no_more_than_jonah_no_less_than_the_wha.html.

Track Listing:

1. When the Blind Man Rings That Bell, featuring Kaylee Cole
2. You Were So Good To Me, featuring Jolie Holland
3. Once But Never Again, featuring Luzelena Mendoza from Y La Bamba
4. Whiskey Riddle, featuring Annalisa Tornfelt from Black Prairie
5. James, featuring Johanna Kunin
6. The President of the Chess Club, featuring Amanda Spring from Point Juncture WA
7. Ortolan, featuring Myshkin
8. Missing Awhile, featuring Corrina Repp from Tu Fawning
9. Awake When I’m Sleeping, featuring Audie Darling
10. No One Gives Their Heart Away, featuring Laura Gibson

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