Public Servant Lifestyle

Portland Oregon based self-styled 'gypsy torch punk chanteuse' Myshkin serves up seven cracking new tunes on her band’s latest CD.

Seven quiet, hard, and gorgeous political songs from Myshkin’s Ruby Warblers about lying leaders, stolen resources, and drowning cities - finally available to buy in the shops after some time in the wilderness as a mail order only release...

Myshkin’s Ruby Warblers (pictured), left-right: Myshkin, Sailor Banks and Leila Chieko

Reviews of the last Ruby Warblers full-length recording: Corvidae – were uniformly positive. US magazine Performing Songwriter said of it: "The story grabs and doesn’t let go until you’ve travelled with her across time and landscapes, accompanied by a soundtrack of jazz-influenced guitar and swinging drumbeats – and that's just the first tune. Every song is brilliant."

Underground Legend

Myshkin’s ever evolving band has been touring non stop for over a decade, became an underground legend in her old home town of New Orleans, has released eight records, and been honoured with awards and much critical praise. She has brought her literate, haunting music to stages from London to Melbourne, and collects more fans worldwide with each quietly stunning record. A rare intelligence and dark humour inform her song writing, her voice is one in a million, and she picks a mean guitar. Her good fortune in attracting skilled and inventive band mates makes every Ruby Warblers show and recording a subtle wonder.

Raised in the Midwestern US and the Netherlands by Dutch parents who grew up under foreign occupation, Myshkin developed a lasting fascination with history, culture, and politics; the way these forces shape people, the way people can work to shape them, and the way all this can be explored and maybe affected by art and music. She studied theatre, taught herself guitar, travelled and lived all over the US, working as a cabbie, baker, painter, always writing. She landed in New Orleans in 1993, determined to work out how to sing for a living.

Myshkin spent the next decade being schooled by that city’s musical legacy, touring tirelessly on three continents, performing on average 300 nights a year, releasing six recordings and working with dozens of artists while playing in several bands – for a while enjoying a rich musical partnership with ex-Man From Delmonte front man Mike West.

Mike West

Soon after moving to Portland Oregon in 2002 to focus solely on her own music, Myshkin met her partner Sailor Banks and they immediately began recording together. They are still at it, playing about 100 shows a year in the US and Europe, and recording in their own studio whenever they are home. Sailor - a.k.a. Sugar Short Wave, a multi instrumentalist and electronic musician with huge imagination and an elegant sensibility - joined the band as bassist in 2004. Drummer Leila Chieko came aboard in 2005, bringing her sweet hypnotic precision to the dark jazz/ roots/pop which is the call of that rare bird: Ruby Warbler.

It’s been a while since the band have made it over to the UK – though they seem to tour near constantly in the States. The last British shows proper were way back in October of 2004 – except for the following year’s two gigs at the Brampton Live Festival in Cumbria – so perhaps it’s time for a return to these shores? If you do find yourself with a chance to check out the Ruby Warblers - either in the US, at one of their shows on the continent or a rare UK appearance - do take it. Like their avian namesake this is a rare treat to see and hear.

The full track listing for the small but perfectly formed Sigh Semaphore EP shapes up like this:

1. Lied
2. Thousand Gallon Hat
3. Moonwater
4. Jenny
5. Holy Holy
6. Horses
7. Bywater

Here’s what some of the critics had to say about Corvidae and Myshkin’s band:

"Crackling with punk rock energy, Sigh Semaphore nevertheless remains true to Myshkin's stylistic bouillabaisse of jazz, klezmer and folk traditions fashioned from a decade in New Orleans" - The Oregonian

"Smart, sad and weird, Myshkin's Ruby Warblers strike out with a restless, caterwauling freedom, the women in her songs beautiful lost ballad heroines." - The Village Voice

"Compelling new EP...some of Myshkin's best lyrics yet" - Willamette Week

"Dark, smoky folk-jazz. Gripping, affecting and disquieting." - Read Magazine

"Both lyrical and politically pointed. A rich blend topped with her broad-ranging, keening voice." - The Washington Post

"Dusky, haunting gems. Corvidae, for all its risk-taking, never sounds forced or unnatural; while Myshkin is all over the place in terms of influences, her work never fails to sound totally organic on this excellent, if brief, CD." - The All Music Guide

“Myshkin's voice is not to be taken lightly. A gorgeous rich alto infused with natural drama and melancholy, and best applied to her own songs: hushed one-act plays that speak volumes.” - The New Orleans Times Picayune

"Every bit as creatively challenging as a Radiohead album, sans the 6,000 layers of instruments. A quietly militant social commentary." - 1340 magazine

Myshkin, a selected discography:

(As Myshkin's Ruby Warblers)

Sigh Semaphore EP 2006 (Double Salt Records)
Corvidae 2004 (Double Salt Records)

(As a member of Road Dog Divas)

Road Dog Divas 2002

(As 'Myshkin')

Rosebud Bullets 2002 (Double Salt Records)
Why Do All The Country Girls Leave? 2000 (Binky Records)
Blue Gold 1998 (Binky Records)
Slate 1993 (Wreck it Records)

(With Mike West)

Econoline 1997 (Binky Records)
Redneck Riviera 1997 (Binky Records)

(As Myshkin Impossible)

Dr Plauge and Other Lullabies 1995 (Wreck it Records)

For more information on Myshkin and her band – together with details of where all the recordings are available and a chance to here/download for free a selection of tracks from her various recordings, visit the official website at: www.myshkinsrubywarblers.com

See also on Lifestyle: The Man (& Woman) From... - Mike West and Truckstop Honeymoon return with more New Orleans story songs.

The Sigh Semaphore EP is out now, on the double salt records label – with part of the proceeds from the sale of this record going to the common ground collective in Algiers, Louisiana.

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