aaamusic | On 06, Jul 2010

Despite being smack in the middle of promoting her latest award-winning album “Lights Out Zoltar!”, Bronzerat Records will release a brand new and  unexpected  Gemma Ray album on July 28th  recorded spontaneously between Xmas and New Years 2009 at NY Hed in New York by Matt Verta-Ray of Heavy Trash. In 5 days Gemma Ray put 16 songs to tape, an eclectic collection of cover versions dragged from memory and spine-tinglingly executed in her own inimitable style.

The resulting album, entitled “It’s A Shame About Gemma Ray” is a raw, powerful and uncontrived cocktail of old and not-so-old songs – Gun Club, The Cookies, Ella Fitzgerald, Obits, Mudhoney, Etta James, Gallon Drunk, Buddy Holly, Gershwin, Alex Harvey, Lee Hazlewood and more. It also includes the lyrics of Sonic Youth’s “Drunken Butterfly” performed to the music of Rosemary’s Baby and a version of “Bei Mir Bistu Shein” (a Yiddish classic whose German interpretation was Nazi-endorsed until they realized where it came from).

“Most of the songs on the album were covered by memory of the original track, but how I remember them, not necessarily how they were. This particularly applies to ‘Hey Big Spender’. I’m not a fan of the famous version I had heard Shirley Bassey  sing, but it’s a tribute to my late best friend. It was played during her cremation and it stuck in my head in a very odd way.”

“It’s A Shame About Gemma Ray” serves as a documentation of time and place, rather than her new album proper (although she has almost finished writing this and will be recording it during the summer). 2010 will see her taking her wares worldwide with performances at Germany’s famous Rock Palast, SXSW, Canadian Music Week as well as shows in the US, Australia, South Africa and Europe.

“Lights Out Zoltar!” continues to dazzle, including recently winning Best Eclectic Album category in the Independent Music Awards, and acclaim continues to pour in from the press. See below for recent accolades, and if you need further convincing, listen to Jimmy Page: “I recently went to see Gemma Ray in concert and was really impressed by her unique blend of songwriting, voice and musicianship. Not to be missed!”.