Monday, July 18, 2016

Release of "The Reward EP" and upcoming shows!

Hi Friends!

     As many of you are aware, my EP, "The Reward," was officially released on July 12th! Here's some press written by my good friend, Kevin Bronson, of BuzzbandsLA: http://buzzbands.la/2016/07/12/stream-brittney-westover-reward/

We celebrated with a successful performance at the Satellite in Silverlake! Thank you to all who were able to attend. If you missed it, I have a couple more performances coming up that I would like to make you aware of.
    First, if you are a local Santa Clarita Valley resident, you can catch me at the LA SummerFEST Singer/Songwriter concert at Rivendale, which is a cool outdoor venue in the mouth of Towsley Canyon. The address is: 24675 The Old Road Santa ClaritaCA.  The performance is Saturday, August 13th, and it's FREE!!!! More info here: http://www.lasummerfest.org/singersongwriter.html



    For my LA friends, I will be performing at the Silverlake Lounge on August 26th. This concert is put on by Afton Shows. It's my first time booking with them, and the way that it works is, the earlier you buy your tickets, the less you have to pay. For example, if you wait until the day of the show to buy your ticket at the door, you pay $14. Presale tickets are only $11. But if you buy your ticket before July 27th with this Promo Code: BRITTNEY245, you can get your tickets for just $9! Click on the following link to buy your ticket today: www.aftonshows.com/brittneywestover

    If you haven't scored yourself a copy of my EP yet, you can even add it to your cart as you are paying for your ticket to my show at the Silverlake Lounge! How convenient! I will also have hard copies of the cd available for purchase at all my live shows. 


    If you can't make it to either of these performances, but you can't wait to buy the EP, you can purchase it here: www.brittneywestover.bandcamp.com (or your favorite digital music store; it's available pretty much everywhere now!) 


    Thank you all so much for listening to my music! I really appreciate your support! Keep it coming! If you like my music, tell a friend! Like my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/brittneywestoverartist

    Take care of yourselves, and each other!


See you soon!



Love & Grace,



Britt



Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Summer Announcements

Hello, my Dearies!


    I have a couple of new developments I'm super excited to share with you! First, I got a bit of press sharing my experience working as a backup singer in a great article written by Suzanne Raga of mentalfloss.com:


Click here to read the full article: 9 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Backup Singers

    But my BIG announcement is that I finally have a release date for my first original Solo EP, "The Reward!" I will be celebrating with a Record Release Show on Tuesday, July 12th, at the Satellite! MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!!


 And if you haven't done so already, claim your FREE "Reward" by watching my music video for my current single and clicking the "Free Download" Button at the end! YOU DESERVE IT!




Thanks for keeping up with me, friends! I can't wait to see you on July 12th! 

IT'S GOING TO BE THE GREATEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE THUS FAR, AND I'M ECSTATIC TO SHARE IT WITH YOU!!!! 



Love & Grace,


Brittney


Saturday, May 21, 2016

Hi Folks!

     Just a little update for you. My Spring Break Tour was absolutely magnificent. Here are a couple of pics from my show at Pies & Pints in Seattle, WA, with my dear friends, Helen Chance and Jef Shocki!


Lots has happened in the last month...my album was officially MASTERED by Will Borza of Double Hook Records. It sounds warm and supple and ready to envelop you in its intimate sensuality. Actually, my words don't do it justice, so I'll let my good friend, Rian Souleles give you his take on it: 


     "Many songs that we love might feel familiar to us when we first hear them, but in fact are original. This musical déjà vu builds an immediate trust of the artist's voice, and allows us to relate to universal musical qualities. This is obvious when reading the comments section of unofficial YouTube videos for many American popular songs of the last 75 years—as I do frequently amid late night Internet rabbit hole sessions. As you read these threads, it's clear people relate to these nostalgic sentiments and use them as time machines for their own lives. 

     Brittney Westover has spent her entire life absorbing songs and the musical signifiers that make up the lingua franca of vintage popular music. It's been her environment from the beginning, and through this absorption, she has developed an intuitive understanding of how songs are constructed and operate. Brittney is able to use this mastery to create universal pop songs. Unlike the vast majority of music generated today, her songs are memorable, way after they end and the next song begins. These songs manifest ear worms that swim into your nervous system, building homes in the mind's ear. 

     All of the songs on "The Reward" refer to love and romance. Love's ultimate relatable nature is the de facto theme of most classic popular songs. Like many great love songs, Brittney's lyrics eschew the abstract, and instead are direct, conveying intimacy, in conversational third person, towards a lover, or an ex, in the case of the opening song, "The Reward," which more specifically refers to love's antithesis, heartbreak, and the disillusionment it creates following a relationship ghosting. "The Reward" features doo-wop girl group vocals, spring reverb, Enchantment Under The Sea—prom guitar stabs on the two and four, and a carousel piano line. 

     According to the timeframe, in the next track, "To Give You My Love," the previous heartbreak is mended and transcended by true love, and is commemorated with a surprise cameo duet with her beloved. The song highlights the importance of intent in the game of love, that's acknowledged in the following song, "Make Things Grow." There, Brittney explores the loving symbiosis that was absent with the ghost player in "The Reward." 

     The contentment established in the previous songs create a bed for the pure gospel song, "Safe With Me," to bundle up in. The song conveys tenderness without being twee or saccharine. With its four blue chords and church organ gargles, it soothes and consoles with an earnest authenticity. It's as affective as J. Spaceman's pure gospel explorations on Spiritualized albums. I've heard a rumor that the song was written for Brittney's dog, which changes the initial connotation slightly, but not really, and carries on a long tradition of songwriters penning loosely coded love songs for their pets.  

     The last two songs, "Dream Come True" and "Don't Doubt," highlight Brit's modern influences. Listening to the intro to this waltz, I immediately thought of Kate Bush and Tori Amos, though the climax of the song is all Brittney, allowing her to exercise her inner diva, with Mariah whistle tones in Brit's upper register. The string arrangement on the last track aches, swells, and descends reminiscent of Sigur Rós and Radiohead. The strings are drenched with just the right amount of reverb to induce shivers. There's universality in Brittney's love songs, and someday, I'm pretty sure the comments section of Brittney's future YouTube videos will be festooned with their own nostalgia."


-Rian Souleles
(Check out his review of Father John Misty's I Love You, Honeybear on Pop Press International) 


     So now all that's left to do is find a venue for my Record Release Party this summer! I have put a few calls out and I am waiting to hear back from a few places in LA. I promise I will let you all know when I decide where it will be. 
   
     In the meantime, Mike and I are going to check out a potential wedding venue today. It's a lighthouse on an ocean bluff! Check it out: https://sanluislighthouse.org It looks absolutely gorgeous. Hopefully they have some dates available for next summer. We'll let you know if it works out for us. 

     After that, we will be returning to LA to play a show in Valley Village!  It's at a church, but it's BYOB, which is pretty cool! Thanks to Dylan Vaughn for making this sweet flyer!

The address is Faith Presbyterian Church 5000 Colfax Ave Valley Village, CA 91601. Thanks to my friend and colleague, Kevin Story, for booking it!The show starts at 7:30. We hope to see some familiar faces there! Til next time, take care of yourselves, and each other. 


Monday, April 4, 2016

Music Video! Tour! EP Release! Oh, My!

Hi there, Frans!

     I'm updating this blog from the beautiful Bay city of San Francisco, CA! This is my first stop on my mini Pacific Northwest Tour/Spring Break Road Trip! I have a week off from work, and Mike has some vacation time saved up, so we decided to take this opportunity to visit friends and family up the coast and play some music along the way. Our first stop is the Open Mic Night at Hotel Utah:

I've heard great things about this place from my cousin, Devan. She and her boyfriend, Brian are generously allowing us to crash with them at their luxurious 1905 San Francisco pad, which is just steps away from Haight & Ashbury and Golden Gate Park! I'm excited to get out there in the sunshine and soak in the cool bay breeze!


Tomorrow morning, we will be driving straight to Portland, to stay with my cousin, Gilian, and her wife, Bernice, for a day or two. No shows booked there yet, but I have my keyboard and equipment just in case something pops up! 

Thursday, we will arrive in Seattle, where we will be among many close friends and family members.   My dear friend, Helen Chance has lined up a show for us to play together, along with our friend, Jef Shocki, at a joint called "Pies N' Pints." My good buddy, DJ Rian Souleles will be spinning all the jams between sets. This is the Seattle collaboration I've been dreaming of for years now, and I'm so excited it's finally coming to fruition! The beautiful and talented singer & composer, Miss Kaley Lane Eaton, is putting Mike & I up in her apartment for a couple of days, and we are so grateful for her hospitality. Take note of these names...all of my Seattle friends are uniquely talented musicians and songwriters who deserve a ton of recognition.  We are hoping to spend time with Mike's sister, Jennifer, her husband, Richard, and our nephew, the adorable Philip, while in town, as well. We are blessed to know so many great people in this gorgeous region of the Pacific northwest. 

On the way back, we plan to stop and see some friends in Sacramento. We will be staying with my dear friend, Ernestine Ballisi, and will hopefully run into our friends, the O'Sheas (Cara & Jimmy, with kids James, Graeson, & Delilah). We haven't seen this beautiful family in at least 5 years, and it will be our first time meeting little Delilah.  

We will be sure to post updates and pictures along the way, but first, take a look at my BRAND NEW MUSIC VIDEO for my single, "The Reward!!!" Watch it all the way through for a chance to get a free download of the song! Feel free to share, because we all know that sharing is caring! So spread the word about my new EP, titled, "The Reward," coming May 1st! Stay tuned for news on how to pre-order your copy! And now, enjoy "The Reward" (the music video)!