Wed, Feb 19, 2014 - Doors 8pm / Show 9pm / $12 / 21+
w/ Vikesh Kapoor
w/ Vikesh Kapoor
Posted by Matt
Host of "Subterranea"
Tue 10-11pm / Thu 11pm-Midnight
facebook/SubterraneaPDX | @subterranea
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| Photo: Laura Heffington |
They might also mention how she was an answer in the New
York Times crossword puzzle. (16 across -
“singer-songwriter _____ Mandell”).
Or how Chuck E. Weiss, longtime friend of Tom Waits - and
subject of Rickie Lee Jones’ “Chuck E’s in Love” – first mentored her in the LA
music scene, introduced her to Waits and financially backed her first album.
They might miss how she recorded “It’s Raining,” the Allen
Toussaint song made famous by Irma Thomas, the Soul Queen of New Orleans, and
how Thomas likewise recorded one of Eleni’s songs in return (“Another Lonely
Heart”). Or how last year in LA a
group of singers that included Jackson Browne and Van Dyke Parks gathered
together for a tribute show to her.
They might forget about the bizarre disconnect between style and substance when, in 2005, she was hired to sing Cole Porter’s “I Love Paris” which became the soundtrack to a notoriously offensive commercial (could there be any other kind) featuring a bikini-clad Paris Hilton seductively dripping ketchup on herself while eating a Carl’s Jr. burger the size of a raccoon.
But they’ll certainly mention how she’s worked with
producers Jon Brion (Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple) and most recently, Joe
Chiccarelli (The White Stripes, The Shins, My Morning Jacket) and how she
toured with legendary British musician and producer Nick Lowe a little over a
year ago. Or how she was referred
to as “the female Tom Waits” for an awfully long time.
She was part of the first wave of artists in the mid 1990’s
moving into the now-hipster-famous and dizzyingly expensive Los Feliz area of
Los Angeles when it was still mostly considered the gang-infested backside
of Griffith Park. The scene included Beck, Elliott Smith
and Mark Everett (Eels). Her 2001
song “Silverlake Babies” was a lullaby for that particular time and place.
Eleni Mandell - "Girls" from the album Miracle of Five (2007)
Eleni Mandell was DIY before it was cool, before it had initials – mining treasures
from thrift stores and flea markets, making her own dresses… Likewise, she was
on the leading edge of the DIY-Indy Music movement before it became a larger
concept. At 15 she decided to stick with guitar after giving up years of violin and piano. A graduate of UC Berkeley
(art major) where she first started playing public gigs, she returned to her native
Los Angeles after graduation in 1992 with a new dream to be a singer. While doing open mics, she landed a
demo deal with DreamWorks Records.
When they ultimately passed on the Jon Brion-produced album, she
decided to release it herself - the critically-acclaimed 1998 debut,
“Wishbone.” From then until the
Yep Roc deal two years ago, she recorded and toured the world independently and
productively – producing a total of nine solo albums, one EP and four other albums as part of
the Grabs (Steve Gregoropoulos, Nigel Harrison, Elvira Gonzales) and the Living
Sisters (Inara George, Becky Stark).
She has licensed nearly two dozen songs to movies and TV shows, a
surprising number of the shows with generic nouns in the title – “New Girl,”
“Brothers & Sisters,” “Girls,” “Boys,” “Men in Trees”…
But her biggest DIY project the past three years has been
completely different. “I guess I
get to be an ambassador to make sperm donors more normal,” she said. Meaning her twins, Rex and Della, who
were conceived with intention and planning via sperm bank and have been touring
with her on the road since they were a little over one year old. She explained to Paste Magazine - “I’d
always wanted children, and I was 39 years old. My boyfriend didn’t want kids, so we broke up… People still
think it’s pretty weird and it makes them a little uncomfortable…”
Eleni Mandell - "Put My Baby to Bed" from the album Let's Fly a Kite (2014)
The twins are the inspiration behind her new album, “Let’s
Fly a Kite,” which was recorded in London last year with Nick Lowe’s band. It’s an ode to motherhood with songs
that American Songwriter Magazine called
“refreshingly out of step with anything contemporary. In fact, if you heard
many of them without knowing they were recently recorded, it’s likely you would
think you stumbled upon a terrific and undiscovered 60s folk/pop oddity.”
Needless to say, she’s pretty open about her life, giving
unguarded interviews and making honest connections with fans. Before social media, she was already
doing the personal things that have become essential for independent musicians
like including a handwritten thank-you note with each CD that was purchased
through her website. And her fans
love her for it. To raise funds
for her current tour, she launched a crowdfunding campaign through PledgeMusic
last year. She hit her goal in
less than eight hours, and doubled that amount soon after. The support of her fans has made it possible for
her to combine work and family in a decidedly post-modern way - traveling,
performing, songwriting and raising kids simultaneously. “Bringing them on the road has been a
joy for me and an education for them,” she wrote on the PledgeMusic pitch. “I’m
certain that traveling is having a really positive impact on them. Keeping them
on the road with me is a priority. Your support will not only help fund my
upcoming tour but will help keep my family together.” And the ex-boyfriend?
He’s on tour with them now too, stepping into the essential role of
babysitter while she works.
But what of the earlier comparisons to Chrissie Hynde, PJ
Harvey and Joni Mitchell? The
tortured and tragic love-and-loss songs?
In conversation she speaks carefully and thoughtfully with her steady,
bakelite smooth voice. “I’m a much
happier person than I used to be. My
own records, I think, are a little bit sad,” she said with a laugh. “And now I find a lot of inspiration
from my kids, and from life, and having more perspective on life instead of
just being this sad sack… and wanting to write about how sad I am. So that’s kind of cool.” She adds, “It’s nice for me anyway.”
* * *
“Gifted with a voice that’s as smoky and coolly moderate as
a chanteuse secreting a pearl-handled revolver beneath her dress in a noir
novel.” – The Los Angeles Times
“…her voice, which seems simultaneously cool and warm to the
touch… her lyrics, which benefit from a poet's eye for detail without falling
victim to the trap of being more enamored of the description than the thing
she's describing.” -- NPR
“Eleni Mandell combines a sweet, slightly sad but still
innocent-sounding vocal style with mature, layered lyrics that cleverly delve
into the messy side of grown-up love affairs.” -- A.V. Club
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