Fresh
off a six week tour with Ben Harper, Tom Freund now continues doing his own shows
across the US and Canada. With a new benefit CD in hand, "Sweet Affection,
" he hopes to rally support for Sweet Relief: A Musicians Fund and turn people
on to a new live and in studio set of songs.
Tom Freund, the critically
hailed singer/songwriter who often accompanies himself on standup bass as well
as guitar and piano, has completed his third album titled Copper Moon, set for
release on January 25, 2005 on the indie Surf Road Records.
Freund, who
served as the disc’s principal producer, believes that this work best represents
his artistic vision: “I was trying to make an album which – like Tupelo
Honey – was about capturing the moment.”
On Cooper Moon, Freund
takes listeners on a captivating noctural trip down Americana’s lonesome
highways and back alleys – from the Stonesian funky rock’n’roll
of “Mercury” to the jazzy, Tom Waits-meets-Joe Henry vibe of “Comfortable
In Your Arms,” before concluding with the sublime Jackson Browne-like ballad
“New Moon Of The 7th Sun.”
A sought-out standup bassist, the talented,
versatile Freund plays most of the stringed instruments as well as piano on Copper
Moon. He also receives support from some terrific musicians. Matt Johnson (Jeff
Buckley, Rufus Wainwright) and Michael Jerome (Richard Thompson, Blind Boys Of
Alabama) share drum duties and X’s D.J. Bonebrake plays the vibes. The Wallflowers’
Ben Peeler provides some astounding electric and acoustic lap steel playing, while
renowned producer/arranger Jerry Yester (Tom Waits) contributes a string arrangement.
New
York City native Freund now hangs his hat in Venice, California. When he first
moved out to Southern California in the early ‘90s, he formed a duo with
Ben Harper, which resulted in an album entitled Pleasure And Pain. Freund spent
the mid-‘90s touring with the indie rock cult faves The Silos. In 1998, he
released his debut album North American Long Weekend on Red Ant label. The record
received an avalanche of critical accolades, most notably in The New York Times
in which Ann Powers called it an “unexpected gem” and ranked it #3 in
her year-end best-of poll.
2001’s Sympatico drew even more raves.
No Depression proclaimed that Freund’s lyrics “capture slices of Americana
in a way that many attempt, yet very few actually master,“ while All Music
Guide, called it “truly unique and absolutely brilliant.” Freund also
is a favorite of NPR’s “Weekend Edition” and has been championed
by Los Angeles’ powerful KCRW-FM, where he has performed live on “Morning
Becomes Eclectic.”
The Washington Post, writing from an advance CD
of Copper Moon, wrote: “Freund clearly delights in enigma. His vocals could
go from laconic to impassioned without such obvious trickery as cranking up the
volume. His lyrics are full of curveballs.”
Freund is highly respected
by his fellow musicians as well. Folk chanteuse Victoria Williams calls Freund’s
2000 disc L.A. Fundamental Music (a soundtrack-oriented EP) “a classic.”
Graham Parker added: “"Listening to Sympatico, Tom Freund's second
solo release, I find myself just as impressed as I was after hearing North American
Long Weekend, his solo debut. His songs fill me with an interesting mixture of
yearning and melancholy that is somehow thoroughly uplifting at the same time.
I get shivers down my spine on almost every tune. Along with Lucinda Williams,
Freund is the best singer/songwriter operating today."
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