SHAUNA BURNS
ETHEREAL VOICED SINGER, SONGWRITER
AND PIANIST EMBARKS ON A FASCINATING
JOURNEY OF THE SOUL ON HER
EMOTIONALLY COMPELLING
‘THE MOON AND THE FIRE CIRCLE’
Burns’ 2005 Debut ‘Every Thought’ Spawned Two Popular AAA Format
Radio Singles, Was Chosen As One Of The Top CD’s Of The Year By The
Indie Website Collected Sounds And Led To Nonstop Touring Across
The Country And In The U.K. Over The Past Few Years
On the cover of Shauna Burns’ (www.shaunaburns.com) critically
acclaimed 2005 breakthrough album Every Thought, the dynamic singer,
songwriter and pianist looks off into the distance while holding a
set of keys in her hand.
Those keys were a powerful metaphor for the overall story she told
in her songs, about our unconscious minds coming to consciousness
and the potential we all have within ourselves to take control of
our own destiny. They also unlocked the door to an exhilarating
career as one of the most promising multi-talents on today’s indie
music scene—a spiritually driven journey that blossoms on her new CD
The Moon and The Fire Circle, which is set for international release
on February 12.
The disc’s compelling first single “Around You” will soon ship to
radio stations nationwide. She recently made a video for the
poignant track “Bloom,” and a video for “Around You” is also in the
works.
The singer’s blend of ethereal vocals and sweeping piano and
percussion driven atmospheres launched the singles “Pink Girl” and
“Petunia” from Every Thought to major success in that format upon
its release. “Pink Girl” was also chosen as the #1 indie single from
the MAACP Radio show.
Every Thought, which Smother.net declared “a newfangled fusion that
will ignite a spark that will be hard to replicate,” was also
selected as one of the Top CDs of 2005 by Collected Sounds, a
popular tastemaking website celebrating independent musicians. It
was chosen for “Best of the Batch” from the Music Industry News
Network and featured on TowerPod.com, Indie-Music.com, Billboard,
VH1, Artist Direct, AOL Music and Fox TV, among other outlets.
Over the past few years, Burns has enchanted audiences at clubs and
Borders Stores across the U.S. and in the U.K. (where she toured
early in 2007) with songs from her debut and its follow-up five song
EP Desert Tune, which featured songs that overflowed from the first
album’s sessions. Her first tour in support of her debut was 40
dates and her most recent jaunt covered 20 dates from coast to coast
during the summer and fall of 2007.
“I view these performances as if I’m holding a conversation with the
audience,” she says. “I’m communicating with whoever chooses to
listen in that moment, and like to visualize my music embracing
whoever wants to embrace it. Just as it’s a friend to them, music is
my friend as well. There’s also a time travel element to the
experience as well. A lot of people say my songs remind them of
things they haven’t thought about in years. They help them recall
the innocence of childhood that they had forgotten about. That’s
what music does for me, too. I have a huge respect for the power of
music and just how spiritual it can be. That’s why I take it so
seriously.”
While most artists enjoying this sort of renown would be content to
stay in a fan-friendly comfort zone and stick to the same musical
vibe, Burns instead fashions a unique twist—and a much deeper and
extraordinary musical journey--on The Moon and the Fire Circle. Her
creative center is still the “complex blend of sounds and striking
lyrics” that Musical Discoveries raved about in its review of her
debut. She’s simply expanding upon the emerging consciousness theme
of Every Thought and showing the steps it takes to harness our inner
strength. By doing that, she says, we can reach our fullest
potential.
A fascinating and richly detailed journey from the light to the dark
and back to the light again, the 14 track collection finds Burns
taking us with her as we travel deep into the underworld of
different points of view. “The twist in the story is who is telling
us which is light and which is dark?” she says.
“From whose point of view are we looking? These different points of
view can help us emerge with the special qualities that help us move
forward and heal the pain in our lives. When I say this album is a
bridge of light and dark, I’m also asking, just what are we calling
dark? I believe we can’t truly see what light is if we don’t know
what darkness is. Some of the songs do come from a dark place, but I
don’t think that’s a bad thing. They offer a perspective that helps
us appreciate the things we want to fill our lives with, and that
pushes us to be more awake.”
Originally, The Moon and the Fire Circle was on track to become two
separate albums, with one representing the moon, or the dark, and
the other symbolizing the sun, or the light. “When I was structuring
the albums,” Burns adds, “it became clear pretty quickly that to
tell the whole, complete story they needed to be presented together
– moon and sun joined as one. You can see this visually in the
artwork. We’ve fused the image of our moon and sun to make a new
planet with her own colors and textures. This represents the dark
and light in all of us living harmoniously as one.”
Working with her co-producer and drummer James Clark, Burns creates
a tapestry of voice and piano with layers, loops and other textures
that harmonized with the theme of ‘blasting out.” “This is what The
Moon and the Fire Circle feels like for me,” she says, “a blasting
out into the universe on a great adventure through the soul.”
Although the album has any number of potentially inviting target
radio friendly singles, it’s best experienced as a cohesive story of
three specific metaphorical movements, tracking Burns’ journey from
light to darkness to light again. On “Bloom,” “Desert Sun” and
“Comet,” we’re living on the sun. A shift takes place on the very
stark “Out” and leads us to explore the darker side of the universe
on “Chamber,” “Starfish” and “Tumbleweed.” Coming out from the moon
side, we bask in “The Caribbean Sea.” The transition back towards
the light includes “Failed You” and “The Slow Process of Shutting
Down” before we discover the sun once again on “Around You,”
“Magic,” “And Fire” and the dramatic closer “When The Rain Comes.”
The Florida native’s music is inspired by many cultures and ideas
that surround the world as well as the landscape of the deserts and
mountains of the Western U.S. that she now calls home. Drawing upon
her degree in Anthropology from the University of Utah, she uses her
passion for that field of study like a shovel that allows her to dig
into herself to uncover her next musical adventure.
“I use anthropology as a songwriting tool all the time,” she says.
“It’s the study of human development and cultural identity and
relationships between people. I feel the need to cultivate and
nurture these little seeds of inspiration because they can grow into
big ideas if we take care. It makes me question: What’s next for all
of us in the world? What is the universe trying to tell us? I’m
listening.”
Burns will be launching a nationwide tour in support of The Moon and
The Fire Circle in 2008.
www.shaunaburns.com |
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