Eliza Newman – Ukulele Song for you

Posted 14 January 2011 Music

By: Ally Millar

Label -Lavaland Records

Website – www.myspace.com/elizanewman

Released – 17 January, 2011

Gays.co.uk Rating

Icelandic singer songwriter Eliza Newman’s EP Ukulele Songs for you is a teaser release ahead of February Album Pie in the Sky.

Her PR release tags the title track from the EP as ‘her number one hit’ … … in the Icelandic charts.

The former lead singer of all-girl Icelandic band Bellatrix – once named the ‘hottest female band to come out of the country’, Newman is now a strong voice in the country’s Trubatrix movement, promoting female artists.

Her EP is light, sweet, pretty, and as edgy as a kumquat. It’s just a little dishevelled and although the atmosphere behind the title track’s themes is sparkly and magical, the production she’s aimed for to be bigger than it is and, in fact, sounds a little cheap.

The third and best known song outside her native walls – a country famous for two things in 2010, bankruptcy and an ash-spewing volcano – was played in all corners of the world as it was themed around the latter.

Her song Eyjafjallajökull - arguably a handy PR stunt at a time of saturated news coverage – is knowingly soft and innocent to almost serve as appeasement to thousands of stranded travellers yet its so sickeningly banal:

“Eyjafjallajökull has caused quite a stir so no one can fly home; except maybe the birds. Cancel all your flights ’cause an angry exploding mountain is always right.”

To quote Stephen Fry: Sometimes there just isn’t enough vomit it in the world.

Eliza Newman’s Ukulele Song for you: sure, it’s light, it’s airy, innocent and cute; but as wet as an incontinent’s knickers and just as irritating.

Icelandic singer/songwriter Eliza Newman will be releasing her brand new EP in the UK on Lavaland Records on 17^th January 2011. The EP was recorded and mixed in London and Iceland with producer Gisli Kristjánsson and includes the number one hit Ukulele song for you.

Ukulele song for you topped the Icelandic National radio chart in 2009 and went on to become one of the most popular songs of the year in Iceland. Elíza is also known as former lead singer of all-girl Icelandic band Bellatrix, and the rock band Skandinavia. She is also instrumental in the Trubatrix movement, which promotes Icelandic female artists with gigs and album releases around Iceland .

Eliza was just a teen when she formed the all-girl punk rock outfit Bellatrix / Kolrassa Krókrídandi. They went on to release four albums on Bjork’s Bad Taste label and in the process earned the tag of hottest female band to come out of Iceland. They signed to Fierce Panda for the release of their fourth album and co-headlined a UK tour with Coldplay as well as headlining the Carling Stage at the Reading Festival. After Bellatrix, Eliza released an album with the rock band Skandinavia receiving major critical acclaim. Eliza is also trained as an opera singer and a versatile musician who plays violin, guitar, ukulele and piano.

2007 saw the release of her first critically acclaimed solo album Empire Fall and the beginning of a solo career. Eliza has not looked back from there, playing sell out shows in London and Reykjavik and receiving many warm words of praise from the press.

In the summer of 2010, Eliza caused quite a stir with her volcano song, Eyjafjallajökull (featured on the EP) when it was featured on the Al Jazeera News channel. The song has become one of Al Jazeera’s most popular news pieces ever. The song also became a big hit on the internet with over 250 000 hits in the first week and coverage on The New York Times , Huffington Post , The Daily Telegraph and countless other internet sites.