The third installment in our new ArtFRONT Sponsored Events series which allows local artists and outside artists' management to utilize our considerable resources in production and publicity to tailor an entire event to their own vision on the date of their choosing. 

TORA   (NYC artist Tora Fisher.)  The music management group that brought us Von Grey earlier in the year has recruited ArtFRONT to produce Tora's show in Chattanooga and asked us to find the best fitting local act for a supporting co-bill.  Fortune has it that The Hearts in Light are releasing their double vinyl album "Ascend" at the same time.  Thus we now have an extravagant evening with Tora, and her backing band made up of members of The Karma Exchange from Brooklyn and a full blown multi-media enhanced  album release show from Chattanooga's The Hearts in Light.
        
New York City singer/songwriter Tora Fisher found her voice-and salvation through heartache and loss. Not many people walk away as the sole survivor of a tragic plane crash As did Tora. Her debut CD,  SPILLING OVER, is a passionate ode to these very themes.  Highly personal,  intensely moving with a powerful voice and  style that brings to mind combinations of Tori Amos, Adele, Ann Wilson and Chrissie Hynde twenty-two year old Tora Fisher explores forbidden love through classic break-up/heartache songs  and  soaring, anthemic numbers dealing with post traumatic stress in her song “Own The Skies.”  The emotions of seeing her father’s grave for the first time spill over on “And I Won’t Cry” and “Second Tree From The Corner,” written when Tora was just thirteen.   Every track on SPILLING OVER causes the listener to contemplate parallels between the songs they are hearing and their very own life experiences.  Accompanying Tora on SPILLING OVER are Michael Mugrage who also co-wrote and produced the CD, Seth Glassman on Bass and Frank Vilardi on Drums.   SPILLING OVER was written in New York City and recorded at Carriage House Studios over a year in the making.   “I called the album "Spilling Over," said Tora because I finally wrote about all the experiences I was trying to keep inside.  Once I gave in to exposing myself on the record, all of the songs nearly exploded out of me. I knew it was the only way the music would be honest and meaningful…and hopefully, touch somebody.”    Live, Tora will perform as a trio with percussionist, guitar, keys and electronics.  Visit her online  www.OfficialTora.com

 

The Hearts In Light released a seven song recording a year and a half ago called "Summer Hearts and Dolphin Death Dreams," which was a solid production of ultra melodic electronic pop-rock and danceable songs by the duo of Kyle Malone and Stacey Sausa from Chattanooga, TN.  Since then Kyle and Stacey have tied the knot matrimonially and recently hammered out Ascend which is a heavily layered amalgam of electronica and pop style vocals.  Highly embellished analog synth style intros  and outros inject a created library of sounds & psychedelic breaks that may very well become a data-mine of samples for future electronic musicians.  Released in the form of the venerated double album format on both vinyl and CD, the project's format harkens back to the ambitious 70's but Kyle & Stacey have a lot more gadgetry at their disposal than did anyone back then.  The Hearts in Light have recruited seasoned local guitar and drum talents Callie Harmon and Beau Bridges with studio mastering by Charles Allison to round out the crashing of their waves and sonic effects of  the completed album."    ~Robin Merritt, ArtFRONT Presentations

"Ascend" is a painstaking labor of audio in the form of an opus of creative mythology.  This recording captures artifacts of decades of audio technology meshed with 1980's New Age ideology accessing the deepest societal anxieties regarding our treatment of the earth, the environment and all it's creatures.  The intensity and intricacy of the music is built on  the vertebrae of rock,  bubblegum pop, psychedelic layering  and several flavors of electronic music.   ~Derek Williams sound tech @ Barking Legs Theater

http://www.theheartsinlight.com/
http://www.reverbnation.com/theheartsinlight 
http://soundcloud.com/theheartsinlight

The Alexanders (a.k.a. Alex Thompson) has become a regular opener for the more melodic and adventurous shows @ Barking Legs.  An original and  riveting balladeer and crooner in the spirit of Jeff Buckley and Elliot Smith, Alexanders continues to bring a core of dedicated fans to his performances and with his naturally at ease audience rapport we expect him to make a lot more fans during his mid-set performance at this highly eclectic mix of musical styles.  http://alexanders.bandcamp.com/

Preston Leatherman 
Tora's management agency just sent word they are sending a special last minute full-band addition from Nashville to an evening already dripping with melodic songcraft and dramatic stage presence. Youthful new-pop Motown influenced  Preston Leatherman began his musical career  as a classically-trained pianist, but has since developed his powerfully soulful vocal skills along with the guitar and drums.  Jackson 5, Alicia Keys and The Temptations are heavy influencers of his music and performance style.  If popularity on the internet is still anything remarkable these days Preston has attracted over a million and a half views on Youtube with a hit video featuring him dancing madly to a Mariah Carey song, candid-camera style through a busy shopping mall while only he can hear the music on an ipod.  "You know you've always seen videos of people doing flash mobs and stuff like that but you never see anyone go by themselves and dance like a crazy person," he said. "You could dump thousands of dollars into to a video and it would never take off, or you can buy a $2.50 Christmas sweater at a thrift store and go with a friend to the mall, film it and have it take off."   Fortunately for all, serious musical talent is combined with Preston's overly enthusiastic willingness to be the center of attention it could be the formula for success.  A shoegazer he is not, and the determination to be a full force presence on the pop music spectrum is evident from listening to the expertly produced, infectiously catchy recordings on his website http://www.PrestonLeatherman.net