Uno Lady Receives the Creative Residency at Bloedel Reserve

Nov 11, 2024 | Fellowships and Artist Residencies, Press, Uncategorized

I am honored and ecstatic to announce I have been awarded the Creative Residency at Bloedel Reserve. Next fall I will be spending a month on Bainbridge Island, Washington, recording nature footage, gathering electronic signals from trees, and creating new compositions.

“Bloedel Reserve is a 140-acre wonder of nature, created by the imagination, vision, and a passionate love of the natural world shared by our founders, Prentice and Virginia Bloedel. Working with the rugged geography of the land, they artfully transformed a rough-hewn Northwest forest into a harmonious series of curated gardens, structural features, and distinctive landscapes, with nature as canvas and paint.

The Creative Residency program provides artists and innovative thinkers with a home on the Bloedel Reserve grounds, designed by noted Northwest architect Jim Cutler, tucked into the woods, away from the trail used by regular Bloedel Reserve visitors. Residents have unlimited access to the Reserve’s 140 acres of sculpted gardens, forests, meadows, and wildlife habitats.”

I am overwhelmed with joy and gratitude for this opportunity. I plan to visit nearby old growth forests before my trip and record electronic signals from trees and write songs with the woods. Thanks for all your support. If you want to donate to my trip (no pressure) paypal Unoladymusic@gmail.com and venmo at @theunolady

While I am sharing good news…

I have a performance on Friday, November 22, at Cleveland Uncommon Sounds Project (CUSP), an old church at 1433 E33 Cleveland, Ohio. I have written some pieces special for the space. I’m excited to share with you. Doors at 7:30pm show starts promptly at 8 and I am singing first. Recommended donation of $15 but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

See you there!

New Uno Lady Video- Lake Clark Alaska Improv

Nov 11, 2023 | Audio/Visual, Fellowships and Artist Residencies

This piece was written and recorded in real-time and is a sonic expression of experiencing the incredible environment of Lake Clark. It was composed while sitting on a log on the beach of Lake Clark with a zoom recorder at Chultina Wilderness Lodge. In my yurt studio, delay and a few additional layers were added.

The video is time-lapse footage I took over the 6-week fellowship and shows the spot I recorded at.

Thanks for watching. Listen to the album and watch the other videos in the links below.

Stream the album

Uno Lady's Bandcamp

Alaska Youtube playlist

Softseed's Bandcamp (cassette)

Posts & Press

New Uno Lady Video plus Portland Phoenix Press Writes About Alaska

Jun 3, 2023 | Audio/Visual, Fellowships and Artist Residencies, Press

Here’s a new video for you! “Acappella Instrumental” is on the new album Alaska. The synth-like sounds are actually psychedelic layers of phased vocals.

I recorded the footage at Tanalian Falls, in Lake Clark National Park, Alaska. The audio was written and recorded at Chulitna Lodge. A bird sampled throughout the album is Swainson’s Thrush. The males defend their breeding grounds by singing a series of spiraling notes inflected upward, which to me sounds like a flute through phaser pedals.

Read "Authentically Manufactured: New Maine releases by Uno Lady & Waxfed are artfully constructed" By Sam Pfeifle

A heartfelt appreciation to Sam Pfeifle at Portland Phoenix, for this incredible article, “Authentically Manufactured: New Maine releases by Uno Lady & Waxfed are artfully constructed” Thanks for taking the time to get to know my music and share. Here are some clips from the article.

… “Take Uno Lady, for example, and her newly released “Alaska,” the result of a residency at the off-the-grid solar-powered Chulitna Lodge, a wilderness retreat in Lake Clark National Park & Preserve. Here, Cleveland transplant Christa Ebert has captured field recordings of herself doing things like banging on a log out in the forest, or birds swooping past her tent at night, and remixed them digitally into background atmospheres, over which she layers what sometimes sounds like dozens of her own vocal tracks. Maybe there’s a bit of keyboard once in a while.

The results are warm and organic, sometimes even catchy, as on “Today’s the Day,” which wouldn’t sound out of place on a Magnetic Fields album. Ebert’s lead vocal is lower register and resonant — “I’ll conjure up some urgency and mend all of the emergencies” — while a chorus of angelic vocals shimmer in the background, accompanied by bugs and birdsong, like Snow White wending her way slowly through the forest. Her vocal range is sorta bonkers.

Her “Venn Diagram,” too, from the “Osmosis” album three years ago, is a delicious bit of indie pop, and she even covered Tom Petty in her early releases. But there’s always something subversive, something new and interesting in the way she constructs her recordings and releases. Her previous release, “Le Flux,” recorded largely in Switzerland and then edited here in Maine, features vocals that are lyricless, and more found sounds turned into beats. Only possible, really, with today’s digital recording techniques, it still manages to transmit an intimacy that should tickle that desire for authenticity….

Maybe you can’t picture them in the room, but you can understand what they’re feeling, and that’s something no machine will ever authentically do.”

Thanks again, Sam. I appreciate your kind words.

<a href="https://unolady.bandcamp.com/album/alaska">Alaska by Uno Lady</a>

The new album Alaska is on UNO LADY’s Bandcamp & Softseed Music’s Bandcamp

Here’s a link to all the streaming sites.

Subscribe and follow to support.

https://unolady.com/alaska-the-new-album-is-out-today/

https://unolady.com/idioteq-com-exclusive-stream-of-todays-the-day-from-the-upcoming-album/

Breakthrough: Watch the New Music Video

Apr 13, 2023 | Audio/Visual, Fellowships and Artist Residencies

“Breakthrough” is the first track on the album. When composing it, the music came before the lyrics. The percussion is a field recording of a HUGE fallen tree in the woods. The resonance of the decayed wood had some serious natural bass. I set up a zoom recorder, and with a mosquito net on my head, pounded my fist on the tree. You could feel the sound waves through the ground as it echoed through the forest. I’m sure I confused some bears, moose, and grouses.

I apologized.

The psychedelic sound in the intro is a field recording of a wilson snipe, a bird I didn’t know existed until this trip. I was fascinated by their sound. I only heard it at night while trying to sleep. This swirling whooshes circled my yurt and sounded like a natural phaser. I learned it’s called winnowing, and it’s not a bird call but rather the sounds of its feathers as it swoops! The specialized tailfeathers create a whirling buzz as it flies to defend its territories and attract mates. I never saw the bird but I heard what I assume was a dozen+ snipes every night.

Nature.org says, “The hollow winnowing of the tail feathers seemingly echoes off wispy cumulus clouds. The faintness can make you second-guess that you’ve heard anything at all. Researchers have determined that peak winnowing happens when snipe are traveling 25 miles per hour.” (And this guy says they can fly up to 60 mph!)

The video features time-adapted footage from Lake Clark, Alaska. Qizhjeh Vena, also known as Lake Clark, is the ancestral homelands for the Dena’ina Athabascan people. These compositions were greatly influenced by the the area. The album is named Alaska as a tribute to the spatial collaboration. This album is dedicated to the incredible artists at Chulitna Lodge. Thanks for watching.

I had a melody before I landed on these specific lyrics to sing. I’d written the words before, in a different context, but they only existed on the pages of my songbook–until coming together for this song.

Being a songwriter is vulnerable. Sometimes trauma turns up in verses. Hypervigilance is a coping mechanism. As a mighty worrier, in a misguided attempt to keep me safe and ready for anything, I unwillingly predict and anticipate unknown dangers. My mind conjures up images of tragic events that will never happen to prepare me for the worst case scenario(s). For example, I have grieved many false deaths, including my own, and vividly envisioned myself experiencing natural disasters, accidents, goofs, and falls, all that which never took place. These distressing thoughts can happen at any time and seem to come out of nowhere.

In my youth, I would be incredibly upset by these intrusive thoughts; they still irk me, but mindfulness and labeling them has helped me loosen their emotional impact. The lyrics to BREAKTHROUGH label the intrusive thoughts for what they are:

False future fantasy
Augmented reality
Scenes that were never seen
Dishonest daydream
Two-timing treacherous thoughts untrue
Breakthrough

On the bright side, real life is a lot better than my worry brain predicts.

It’s challenging to write such personal things. When I learned that distorted thoughts are a phenomenon experienced by many people, I felt less isolated. I share in case you need to know you’re not alone.

Please share with friends you feel could use this message too.

I hope you like the song and album. It’s my favorite yet. Thanks for reading. Sending you love!

Subscribe and follow to support.
Here’s a link to all the streaming sites.

Alaska, the New Album, is out Today!

Mar 21, 2023 | Fellowships and Artist Residencies, Music Mondays, Press, Shop

I’m so excited to share these songs with you!

Alaska is released in partnership with Softseed Music in British Columbia on limited edition cassette tapes (32), each with one-of-a-kind swirl art made by Dave Norman of Softseed Music. The tapes are available at Softseedmusic.bandcamp.com and UnoLady.com.

Dave asked about collaborating on a tape right after my Alaskan adventure. The Wax Mage Records, Single Rider release was how I was introduced to Dave. He runs Softseed Music and Zegma Beach. Red Spade Records created a limited run lathe cut 10” and Dave hand dipped the swirl art.

ALASKA, Uno Lady’s 9th release, was recorded at an off-the-grid solar-powered arts fellowship at Chulitna Wilderness Lodge in Lake Clark National Park & Preserve, Alaska.

These songs were written in the moment and inspired by the landscape. You can hear the tranquility of the place within the songs. The percussion was made by drumming on trees and the beats are comprised of bird calls I recorded. These nature sounds pulse along with layers of vocal harmonies. These truly unique compositions are atmospheric and mesmerizing.

The album artwork is a photo I took on summer solstice. Taking advantage of the 22 hours of daylight, we zipped around by boat visiting different islands within Lake Clark and sipped on sun soaked teas made from flowers we foraged.

The art fellowship in Alaska was life changing. I was as enthusiastic as an eight year old over new plant discoveries. I didn’t anticipate creating an album. Being disconnected from social media and online distractions allowed me to absorb and be influenced by the atmosphere. I would record when I felt inspired, which was often. At the end of the 6 week adventure, I had 10 recordings and a new album. All the songs on ALASKA were a product of this once in a lifetime experience. Thank you Chulitna Lodge for sharing your space, good company, and delicious food. This album is dedicated to you and the artists involved (Here are related posts about my experience at the fellowship if you want to learn more 1 & 2).

In these coming weeks, I’ll share stories from each song and videos. Subscribe and follow to see. Here’s a link to all the streaming sites.

Thanks for reading and for your support!

Photos by Christa Ebert. Lake Clark, Alaska

ALASKA cassette (SOLD OUT)
$15.00

Press

“Not confined to a single genre, UNO LADY draws from minimalism, avant-garde, art rock, and experimental indie on new album “Alaska”– IDIOTEQ.com

Links

Uno Lady News: IDIOTEQ.COM Exclusive Stream of TODAY’S THE DAY, From the Upcoming Album

Mar 16, 2023 | Fellowships and Artist Residencies, Press

Not confined to a single genre, UNO LADY draws from minimalism, avant-garde, art rock, and experimental indie on new album “Alaska”

Visit IDIOTEQ.COM to hear the exclusive stream of “TODAY’S THE DAY,” the featured track from the new album.

By Karol Kamiński, IDIOTEQ.COM -“Uno Lady‘s new album, titled “Alaska,” showcases her unique approach to music composition, which involves layering ambient vocal textures with classic doo-wop and jazz styles using experimental techniques. The album features a few tracks that incorporate effected vocals similar to the White Lotus theme, while the final two tracks are meditative and calming in nature.

Recorded at an off-the-grid solar-powered arts fellowship at Chulitna Wilderness Lodge in Lake Clark National Park & Preserve, Alaska, this is Uno Lady’s ninth release.

The album will be available digitally and on cassette via Softseed Music, with 32 swirled cassettes being released on March 21st, 2023 at 7am PST / 9am CST / 10am EST.

Commenting on the new single “Today’s the Day”, Christa’s explains that the music came to her first and she struggled to come up with lyrics until she decided to write about the very thing she was experiencing – being stuck and trying to get moving.”

The new album will be available on 3.21.23 at the following links:

UNO LADY Bandcamp

Softseed Music’s Bandcamp

Streaming sites