EPK
Artist Information
Label: independent
Genre: indie folk
Hometown: Portland, OR
Sounds like: Joni Mitchell, Lana Del Rey, Norah Jones
Short Bio
With bone-deep lyrics and a magnetic, haunting voice, Portland based singer/songwriter, Corinne Sharlet, crafts a warm Americana sound. Emotive and alluring, Corinne’s music captures the imagination like the high deserts of Central Oregon where she was raised. Drawing comparisons to Joni Mitchell, Corinne writes unusual melodies and chord progressions that give her version of folk music new life.
Quote about the song
“To me Pink Summer Moon is like an intergalactic love song. I wrote it at the beginning of Quarantine and it became about longing; longing to escape to another place and time.”
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Full Bio
Chiaroscuro is an Italian artistic term used to describe the dramatic interplay between light and dark. Most frequently used in the world of painting or film noir, chiaroscuro is also a fitting way to describe Corinne Sharlet’s debut album, A Lovely Future to be preceded by the single Pink Summer Moon. Corinne’s songs vacillate between ethereal lightness and raw darkness; her hypnotizingly clear voice provides an inviting guide.
Corinne’s music draws comparisons to Joni Mitchell, with their unusual melody lines and chord progressions. Her lyrics reflect on the complexity of being human with delicate poeticism. On Pink Summer Moon, the second single from the album, Corinne creates an intergalactic escape with spacey electric guitar, pulsing hand-drum percussion and the lyrics, “set the night on fire / call me by my name / am I the only one who knows you like this / do I burn a secret flame?”
When Covid hit, Corinne dove into finishing her album as a much needed creative escape from the long and disorienting alienation imposed on us all by the global pandemic. With the help of co-producer and recording engineer, Ryan Oxford of Y La Bamba, Corinne aimed to create an escape for listeners, transporting them to dream worlds all their own. To capture the rawness and energy of a live performance, the album was recorded directly to an analog tape machine at Portland’s Center for Sound Light and Color Therapy with Mike Gamble on guitar, Andrew Jones on stand-up bass and Chris Jonedis on percussion. The experience of recording this album to tape, Corinne says, became an almost meditative practice of learning to let go of her own perfectionist inclinations, with most of the songs recorded in just one or two takes.
“I have the tendency of being a perfectionist in all areas of my life,” she says now. “All it has done is hold me back and provide excuses to not do things out of the fear that it won’t be perfect.”
With the human struggle escalating now to encompass the possibility of our planet’s destruction, “I think we are all really craving art that feels more human than machine,” Corinne says. Her album embraces the imperfection at the core of human experience, showcasing the beauty of “more cracks in the voice, more wrong notes,” she says. “At least that’s what I want my music to be about.”
