Andrea Schroeder – Blackbird (2012)

There is hardly another bird that twitters nicer than the Blackbird. And Blackbird is the title of the debut album of Berlin based song poet Andrea Schroeder – a hommage to the bird and the beauty of life in general.
Once in a while, Germany offers uniquely talented female singers, and Andrea is one of those.
Draw yourself a line from Marlene Dietrich over to Nico, add some dashes Chamber Pop in the vein of The Tindersticks to it and you come close. Discovered and loved by such illustrious people like Charles Plymell or Mike Watt .
The Blackbird album came to life in Berlin Wedding – an old working-class district – where Andrea Schroeder lives with her musical collaborator Jesper Lehmkuhl, not an American as you would have guessed by the music he creates, but a cool Danish citizen. „A lot of songs originate from poems“, says Andrea Schroeder. „The melodies come organically to blend with the flow of words. We add some guitars and structure and the song builds and builds. But sometimes Jesper is playing a beautiful guitar figure and I need to find the right word to complement it.“
Jesper Lehmkuhl is a walking encyclopaedia when it comes to American music, it’s history and genres. „We weren’t really aware of the American influence to our songwriting at first. I guess it came naturally as in the last ten years I have listened to American music almost exclusively. But I consciously tried to add some nordic influences as well.“
Another inspiring factor on the creation of Blackbird certainly was producer Chris Eckman, who not only plays in bands like The Walkabouts, Chris & Carla, Dirt Music or Long, but also successfully works as producer with a wide spectrum from Mali’s Tamikrest to Norway’s Midnight Choir. He was also responsible for the string arrangements, as well as adding subtle nuances on guitar and Hammond organ. Fans can detect his musical spirit, but the sounds and aesthetics firmly belong to the singular talent of Andrea Schroeder.