Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Pi released her fourth album, Fire Horse Girl, through indie label TCC Music on October 13, 2009. Collaborating with veteran producer/ engineer Randy Wine (U2, Bruce Springsteen), Fire Horse Girl evokes the whispers of great 70’s singer-songwriters, yet its approach and lyrics are completely fresh. With over 40 film and TV placements, Pi – a smoky alto – has been heard on such networks as MTV, Oxygen, and Nickelodeon.
“Pi sounds like a cross between Rickie Lee Jones and Chrissie Hynde – but totally unique!” the incomparable Randy Wine has enthusiastically stated. Having worked together previously, Wine came in as full producer on Fire Horse Girl. Additional core members of Pi’s recording team include such talented musicians as Fredo Ortiz, the Beastie Boys’ drummer, on percussion, and Michael Bluestein on keyboards, the consummate sideman who has played with Foreigner, Boz Scaggs, and Enrique Iglesias. Drummer Joel Alpers, who composed and produced the music for the recent John Travolta/Robin Williams film Old Dogs, played drums, and the amazing bassist Paul Eastburn played upright and electric bass, violin, and viola. Guitarist Aaron Jacobs was a co-writer on two of the album’s top songs, “Reckless” and “Santa Ana,” and Justin Reinhardt, a killer pianist and the composer of the score to the 1996 film Swingers, played grand piano on a few tracks and often plays live with Pi during her LA shows.
When asked about her inspiration for Fire Horse Girl (FHG), Pi explains:
“This album was a return to my roots – ‘70s pop rock. The songs all wrote themselves quickly and easily, and I often felt like I was channeling the wonder and terror of being a child in the ‘70s with hippie parents during chaotic times. Thankfully there was always a lot of music / dance / theatre / creativity around.
“My tumultuous upbringing was also colorful – my dad is Filipino, my mom of English/Irish decent. My 5′2″ grandpa came over from the Philippines, got divorced (unheard of!), and married a 6-foot tall African-American woman who was a big part of my upbringing.
“Seventies singer-songwriters really spoke to me… Carole King, Rickie Lee Jones, James Taylor, Fleetwood Mac, etc. Our house also had a lot of soul – Aretha, Etta James, Bobby Womack, Nina Simone, plus classical and reggae… I wrote love letters to Jimmy Cliff when I was 8!
“Ultimately, with this album I explored my unconventional upbringing while paying homage to the soundtrack of my early life.”
When asked about her inspiration for Fire Horse Girl (FHG), Pi explains:
“This album was a return to my roots – ‘70s pop rock. The songs all wrote themselves quickly and easily, and I often felt like I was channeling the wonder and terror of being a child in the ‘70s with hippie parents during chaotic times. Thankfully there was always a lot of music / dance / theatre / creativity around.
“My tumultuous upbringing was also colorful – my dad is Filipino, my mom of English/Irish decent. My 5′2″ grandpa came over from the Philippines, got divorced (unheard of!), and married a 6-foot tall African-American woman who was a big part of my upbringing.
“Seventies singer-songwriters really spoke to me… Carole King, Rickie Lee Jones, James Taylor, Fleetwood Mac, etc. Our house also had a lot of soul – Aretha, Etta James, Bobby Womack, Nina Simone, plus classical and reggae… I wrote love letters to Jimmy Cliff when I was 8!
“Ultimately, with this album I explored my unconventional upbringing while paying homage to the soundtrack of my early life.”
After spending a few years as a top tier studio and touring musician in the San Francisco Bay area Pi, aka Pi Jacobs, teamed up with Tommy Boy artist/producer Pfilbryte for her first album, Irrational, in 2001. The response to Irrational was overwhelming, leading Pi to a management deal with NYC’s Alabina Entertainment, and a European record deal with the French Atoll Music label, and widespread licensing for film and television including placement in I Hate My Job, High School Reunion, Sorority Life, Battle of the Sexes, Making the Band, and the film Coffee Clutch.
In 2002, Pi left San Francisco for NYC, touring the US several times, and holding down a long-standing residency at the Paradise Café in the Chelsea District of Manhattan. In 2004 Pi moved again, this time to Los Angeles where she recorded her second album Beat Mining in Dark Places, which was enthusiastically received by critics and licensed to several films including The Appointment and Fixing Rhonda. Singer Magazine claimed, “Her crystal-clear voice is flexible and flawless, rising to the call put forth by her lyrics and instrumentation.”
Several tours and placements later, Pi’s 2007 Randy Wine-mixed and mastered release, The Curse of the Songwriter, appealed to critics around the country who compared her to Jewel and Joni Mitchell. Songs from Curse were featured in several popular TV shows such as Road Rules, Real World Sydney, Real World Denver (MTV), Bad Girls Club (Oxygen) and Zoey 101 (NICK), and Wayne Wang’s ’07 film The Princess of Nebraska.
The name of Pi’s new album relates to the year of her birth. According to Chinese Astrology, females born in the year of the Fire Horse, which only comes around once every 60 years, are said to consume everything in their path and wreak havoc wherever they go. They are considered dangerous, headstrong, and are seen as deadly to men. Pi relates, “I thought the FHG story fit the record beautifully. The chaos, upheaval, and creativity of my youth was my fate: not something I caused but a destiny to embrace. Being a FHG has given me so many stories to tell through music.”
To celebrate the new release, Pi will embark on tour this summer, including her first trip to the UK and Ireland. US stops include New York City - 6/6, Washington DC - 6/7, San Francisco - 7/10, and Los Angeles – 7/14. UK dates include London - 6/10, 6/25 and 7/1, Exeter – 6/12, Bristol - 6/13 and 6/14, Dublin – 6/18, Birmingham – 6/20, Manchester - 6/21, Edinburgh - 6/23, and St. Andrews (Scotland) - 6/24. For complete, and up to the minute show information please visit http://www.artistdata.com/pi/
Pi is endorsed by Strum-n-Comfort, and Martin Guitars.
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